San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station won’t reopen

Activists who have fought for the closure of the plant cheer the news that it is being retired. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

June 7, 2013 5:14 PM PT

The plant, which once supplied power to about 1.4 million homes in Southern California, has been closed for more than a year after a tube leaked a small amount of radioactive steam into the atmosphere. On Friday, Edison International announced that the facility would be retired.
Read more: San Onofre nuclear power plant to be closed permanently

The plant has been shut down since January 2012 after radioactive steam was released into the atmosphere from a leak in one of its new steam generators. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The plant had been operating for four decades. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

San Onofre, one of only two nuclear power plants in California, had been in limbo for months as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission weighed a proposal by Southern California Edison to restart one of the units at less than full power to see if that alleviated the problems with unexpected wear in a new steam generator. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The decision not to reopen the plant means more than 1,100 workers will lose their jobs and left unanswered some daunting questions: How will the loss of San Onofre’s power be made up and who will ultimately pick up the tab for the costs? (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)