Hundreds attend contentious forum on San Onofre’s future

Plant workers and anti-nuclear activists cheer and jeer as regulators, ratepayer advocates and nearby residents debate the merits of restarting a reactor.

By Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times  October 10, 2012

The troubles at the San Onofre nuclear power plant brought out hundreds of people Tuesday night for a forum held by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Plant workers and anti-nuclear activists formed warring cheering sections in a ballroom at the St. Regis Monarch Beach hotel in Dana Point as a panel of regulators, ratepayer advocates and residents of nearby communities fielded questions and debated the merits of restarting one of the plant's reactors.

San Onofre, which once supplied power to about 1.4 million homes in Southern California, has been out of commission since Jan. 31, when a steam generator tube carrying radioactive water sprang a leak, releasing a minuscule amount of radioactive steam.

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