The San Onofre nuclear generating plant sits just south of the birthplace of California surfing, where groms still learn and longboards still rule. On sunny mornings, SUP riders, segregated to the south of paddle surfers, literally play in the shadows of the cooling towers. The plant, however, has been idled since a leak of radioactive steam more than a year ago, and yesterday California Senator Barbara Boxer accused the plant’s owners and equipment makers of ignoring “serious problems” with steam generators and installing them anyway — the same issues that led to the radioactive leak. The reason? The cost of fixing the generators and the hassle, cost, and time of having to get new federal licensing for the upgrades. Southern California Edison wants to restart the plant, but a coalition of nearby surf towns and residents is arguing it should be mothballed forever. Via LA Times.

Read more stories like this at Adventure Journal.

Tags: surfing

This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2013 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Current Events, Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.