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Politics & Government

Rohrabacher: San Onofre Nuclear Plant Won't Go Online Until Safe

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, whose 46th District includes the Peninsula, tours the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station Thursday.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Palos Verdes Peninsula, said he came away from a tour of the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station Thursday convinced officials will not let it go back online unless it is completely safe.

Southern California Edison officials who led the tour for Rohrabacher told him that they expect the power plant to be working again by the end of next month, he said.

"But they reiterated that only unless they were absolutely convinced of the safety of what they were doing," Rohrabacher told City News Service. "They all have families near the plant, so they're not going not going to do anything to put the public at risk."

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Rohrabacher, who is a senior member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, said he was at a seminar led by law enforcement several weeks ago when the topic of the San Onofre plant came up.

"One of the things we were talking about was some of these people (entering the country illegally) are terrorists coming in, not just illegals and drug dealers," Rohrabacher said. "You wonder what their target would be. It would be the nuclear plant. And I realized I have not been down there to make sure they're taking security seriously."

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Rohrabacher's concerns on that score were also settled, he said.

Rohrabacher also used the visit to impress upon Edison officials that there are alternatives to water-cooling reactors such as San Onofre. He pointed to nuclear power plants in Europe that are cooled by gas that he considers more efficient.

"We should not be building any more light-water reactors that are now the mainstay of the nuclear industry," Rohrabacher said. "I'm calling for a moratorium on any more light-water electricity. It's ridiculous. It's 50-year technology and we are capable building power plants without the downsides, that cannot melt down and won't leak radiation."

Rohrabacher said he would consult with Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to hold hearings on his proposal to consider gas-cooling nuclear plants. Issa went on a tour of the San Onofre plant in April.

Unit 3 of the plant south of San Clemente has been shut down since Jan. 31, when station operators detected a leak in one of its steam generator tubes. Its two steam generators are undergoing extensive testing and inspections in order to fully assess their condition and the cause of the leak.

Unit 2 was taken down for planned maintenance Jan. 9.

Unit 1 was shut down in 1992 over fears that it could not withstand a major earthquake.

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