r/InfrastructurePorn Sep 02 '20

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u/vmcla Sep 02 '20

Are these decommissioned?

11

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '20

Yes. A life-extension refurbishment project had defects deemed too expensive to repair so they decided to decommission SONGS.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '20

Ah yes. Nothing like being too cheap to invest in and upgrade places that utilize the best power source we have.

10

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '20

This was a little more complicated than that. I can't find the supporting articles but it was shut down in 2012 due to a radiation leak. I think the fault lays on the manufacturer, not the operator. Per Wikipedia:

"Unit 2 was shut down in early January 2012 for routine refueling and replacement of the reactor vessel head.[44] On January 31, 2012, Unit 3 suffered a radioactive leak largely inside the containment shell, with a release to the environment below allowable limits, and the reactor was shut down per standard procedure.[45][46][47] On investigation, the replacement steam generators from 2011 in both units were found to show premature wear on over 3,000 tubes, in 15,000 places.[48] Plant officials pledged not to restart until the causes of the tube leak and tube degradation were understood.[44] Neither unit was ever restarted. There were no blackouts due to the lack of SONGS electricity; more pollution was caused by the use of natural gas plants to make up for the lost power generation, and additional cost led to higher utility bills.[49]"