SAN ONOFRE, Calif., March 23 (UPI) -- California energy officials say they're preparing for potential summer power shortages if the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station remains out of service.
The nuclear power plant was shut down Jan. 31 when a tube that carries hot, radioactive water in one of the plant's steam generators sprang a leak.
A small amount of radioactive steam was released, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The reactor was taken offline and operator Southern California Edison began pressure-testing 129 tubes that showed excessive wear.
A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission team was also dispatched to investigate.
Eight tubes have failed pressure stress tests and excessive wear on more tubes has been found, officials said.
Edison is planning for the possibility that the plant could be offline through the summer, spokeswoman Jennifer Manfre said.
A major heat wave or transmission line outage during the peak season could see South Orange County and the San Diego and Los Angeles areas facing energy shortages without the 2,200 megawatts of power generated by San Onofre, a report presented to the Independent System Operator board said.
Board officials said they plan to produce more energy from other sources and convince customers to scale back on demand.
"If, in fact, we do nothing, there could be some potential issues down there," ISO Chief Executive Stephen Berberich said. "We don't intend to do nothing."
