Small Fire Shuts No. 3 Reactor at San Onofre Plant

A reactor at the San Onofre nuclear power plant that can provide energy for 1.1 million homes will be unusable for several weeks after an electrical fire in a nearby room Sunday afternoon.

No radiation was released and no one was injured, said Ray Golden, a spokesman for Southern California Edison.

“It was not a danger to any of the employees or certainly not the public,” he said. However, “there was damage done. We have to go in and replace what can’t be repaired and repair the rest.”

The No. 3 reactor had been offline since Jan. 2 for refueling and maintenance. It resumed service earlier Sunday, but shut off automatically when an electrical short caused a fire in a gear room at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

The nuclear reactor was never endangered because it is encased in a 4 1/2-foot-thick concrete, airtight building, Golden added.

About 20 firefighters, from both San Onofre and nearby Camp Pendleton, extinguished the smoky blaze with dry chemicals and water in 30 minutes.

The fire damaged large cabinets and a transformer, though the full extent of damage is unknown, Golden said. He could not recall a fire at the plant in recent memory that required outside assistance.

Golden said the timing of the fire--during California’s energy crisis--was unfortunate.

“We obviously would have wanted the plant to be back up and operating at full power,” he said.

The reactor will not be usable for several weeks so it can be inspected, he said. Local, state and federal authorities were notified of the incident, which was classified as an “unusual event.”

The plant has two other nuclear reactors, but one was retired because of its age. The remaining unit generates 1,120 megawatts, which provides energy for 1.1 million households.