WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Southern California Edison "intentionally misled" regulators regarding the shut down San Onofre nuclear power plant.
The plant in coastal San Diego County has been shut down since January 2012 because of unusual wear on its steam generator tubes, which carry radioactive water. SCE has proposed restarting one of the plant's two units and running it at partial power, which would alleviate the problems that led to the wear, the company said.
Boxer, head of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement posted Tuesday on the committee's website correspondence between SCE and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which manufactures steam generators, constituted "major new evidence of misrepresentation and safety lapses by Edison."
"This correspondence leads me to believe that Edison intentionally misled the public and regulators in order to avoid a full safety review and public hearing in connection with its redesign of the plant," Boxer said. "The correspondence shows that Edison knew they were not proceeding with a simple 'like-for-like' replacement as they later claimed."
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SCE responded with a news release saying letters it released Tuesday show the company "exercised responsible oversight of the vendor of the San Onofre nuclear plant replacement steam generators before any designs were completed or approved."
Pete Dietrich, SCE senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, said the company's "own oversight of MHI's design review complied with industry standards and best practices."
"SCE would never, and did not, install steam generators that it believed would impact public safety or impair reliability," Dietrich said.
Boxer said she plans to provide the correspondence to federal and state officials, including the U.S. Department of Justice.
"Given this new information, it is clear to me that in order for this nuclear plant to even be considered for a restart in the future all investigations must be completed and a full license amendment and public hearing process must be required," she said.
