The San Onofre nuclear plant north of San Diego was closed by officials on Wednesday after a radiation leak was discovered by regulators.
Officials say the leak has posed no danger to plant workers or the general public although they do admit that a small amount of radioactive gas managed to escape from a leaky tube in a steam generator.
The steam generator system where the leak was discovered was replaced just a little over a year ago and plant workers in the meantime are investigating the leak to determine where the new system went wrong.
Located on the coast next to a military base, the nuclear power plant came under scrutiny in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear power plant led to a mass evacuation of the area surrounding that plant. Much like Fukushima the San Onofre plant is located in an earthquake-prone part of California.
While officials eventually reported that the San Onofre plant was safe environmental groups have continued to petition to have the plant shut down.
Pete Dietrich, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer for Southern California Edison told the Los Angeles Times :
“There was no threat then, nor is there now any danger to the public or to plant workers … Our operators performed exactly as they are trained to perform and took prompt action to ensure we did not create a situation involving any challenge to the health and safety of the public.”
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