Power shortages looming in Southern California

-- Southern California is probably the worst mix of ingredients for civil unrest already. This isn't going to help. The lights are going out everywhere. And you didn't just think that just Japan was having troubles did you? This year, collapse comes to America in a big way. Blackouts lasting many days at a time are hitting major cities all over the world now. Entire nations like Ghana are down for days at a time. Parts of Boston were dark for almost a week earlier this year.  How well are you prepared? -- MCR

San Onofre reactors down indefinitely, power shortages possible this summer

89.33 KPCR,

22 March, 2012

Like the forthcoming tans of a rapidly approaching summer, hopes are fading that the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station will be functional by the time peak summer usage rears its sweaty head.

With San Onofre's nuclear reactors offline indefinitely -- Unit 3 was shut down following January's radioactive leak and Unit 2 is offline for maintenance -- local agencies are scrambling to strategize a way of handling the upcoming summer demand to avoid shortages or blackouts.

Preliminary plans were discussed Thursday at a meeting to address the power supply issue.

State regulators may need to bring in electric generators via barges, or un-retire closed power plants to make up for lost electricity. Officials at the California Independent System Operator meeting said an extended heatwave or surge in usage may still cause outages.

Southern California Edison serves nearly 14 million Central and Southern California residents with electricity. 19-percent of all power used by SCE customers reportedly comes from nuclear generation.

Investigators are currently trying to determine why tubes carrying hot, pressurized, radioactive water inside the relatively new steam generators at San Onofre, are deteriorating at a dangerous and unusual rate. A team of federal investigators was dispatched to the San Diego-area plant earlier this month.