SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, California |
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, California (Reuters) - Tubes that leaked radioactive steam at a California nuclear power plant, leading to an indefinite shutdown, were not properly tested by the manufacturer prior to installation, nuclear regulators told an overflowing public hearing on Monday.
The San Onofre Nuclear Power plant, located in Orange County, has been shut down since January 31, when plant operators discovered a small radiation leak in one of the plants' two units. The 2,150-megawatt plant is operated by Edison International's Southern California Edison utility.
The nuclear station is located halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego and is critical to the grid to import electricity into southern California. Its extended shutdown raises the possibility of rolling power outages as warmer temperatures boost demand for power over the summer.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday pinned the blame for the leak on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which it said underestimated the velocity of water and steam surging through the generator by a factor of three or four times in its computerized test of the equipment.
The tubes were also not held together tightly enough inside the troubled Unit 3 reactor, allowing them to rub against each other and causing premature wear, regulatory officials said.
Eight of the 129 tubes tested by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission since the shutdown at the plant's troubled Unit 3 generator failed pressure testing, an unprecedented number, said Elmo Collins, regional administrator for the Region IV office of the NRC.
"We've never seen that before," he said of the test results. "This is a significant, serious safety issue."
Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Southern California Edison said they would not allow the plant to reopen until it was safe to do so, and declined to give a specific timeline for restarting the plant.
"Both San Onofre units will be shut down until repairs are made and we and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are satisfied it is safe to operate," said Pete Dietrich, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer for the power plant.
While the regulatory commission has some authority over contractors such as Mitsubishi, Collins made it clear that it's Southern California Edison that will ultimately be held accountable if penalties are eventually levied by the government.
A crowd of over 400 people showed up for the hearing, many asking pointed questions about the competence of the Southern California Edison and the regulatory commission, as well as raising questions about the safety of nuclear power.
Dozens of environmentalists held a rally prior to the meeting with anti-nuclear signs, including one banner that read "Fukushima not again!" - a reference to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster last year following the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan.
Damon Moglen, climate and energy director for green group Friends of the Earth, said that Southern California Edison made significant design changes to the plant without seeking an amendment to its existing license, as is required by the regulatory commission.
His group submitted petition to nuclear regulators on Monday to require the company to obtain a new license, complaining that in his view the commission was "asleep at the regulatory wheel."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said its investigation into what went wrong at the plant was ongoing and promised to keep the public apprised of any new developments. A written report on the findings will be released next month, regulators said.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)
Source: uk.reuters.com
US artist wins £25,000 BP Portrait prize with painting of 'Auntie' - The Guardian
A tender portrait of a family friend, a woman affectionately known as Auntie and trusting enough to pose for a larger-than-lifesize painting that exposes every sag and crease, has won the £25,000 BP Portrait prize for the 26-year-old American artist Aleah Chapin.
The competition is now open to any artist aged over 18, and Chapin beat a record entry of more than 2,100 entries from 74 countries, including almost 1,500 submissions from the UK. She will also win a £4,000 commission to make a work for the gallery's collection.
Auntie is one of a series of portraits of unrelated women Chapin has known all her life, whom she gathered for a group photo session on an island off Seattle, where she was born, though she is now based in New York.
The artist said: "The fact that she has known me since birth is extremely important. Her body is a map of her journey through life. In her I see the personification of strength through an unguarded and accepting presence."
Sandy Nairne, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, described the work as "ambitious and beautifully painted, with superbly controlled colour and tone. She is a very deserving winner of the 2012 BP Award, which once again demonstrates the vitality of contemporary portrait painting around the world."
The second prize went a Spanish artist Ignacio Estudillo, who lives and works in Córdoba, for a monochrome portrait of his grandfather.
Third prize went to a largely self-taught London-based artist, Alan Coulson, who has twice before made the portrait award exhibition, for a portrait of a friend and fellow artist, Richie Culver, displaying his opulently tattooed arms in a white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Chapin would also have been eligible for the young artist award for artists under 30: it went to Jamie Routley, born in 1982, for a triple portrait of Tony Lewis, a well known figure to many Londoner commuters from his newspaper stand at Baron's Court tube station.
The travel prize went to Carl Randall, from his proposal to follow in the footsteps of the 19th century printmaker Ando Hiroshige, creating portraits of local people reflecting life in modern Japan.
The exhibition of a selection of 55 works, including the winners, opens at the gallery in London this week, and will then tour to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this winter, and then the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter in spring .
• BP Portrait Award, free at the National Portrait Gallery June 21 - September 23
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
California gasoline prices drop; average falls below $4 a gallon - Los Angeles Times
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Retail gasoline prices are plunging in California, with averages dropping below $4 a gallon for the first time since mid-February, according to one fuel-price survey. The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline in California reached $3.99 ...Source: www.latimes.com
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