Dive Summary:

• Southern California Edison (SCE) is being questioned by federal regulators regarding a new monitoring system for its idle San Onofre nuclear power plant.
• The plant has been shut down since January, but SCE has attached a new monitoring system, which relies on sensitive monitors to detect unusual vibrations, to its proposal to restart the Unit 2 reactor.
• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducted a panel meeting with SCE regarding the plant's future and a decision on the matter could come as quickly as March.

From the article:

Edison officials fielded a range of questions about the monitors at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel meeting in Maryland, where an NRC official argued that the equipment could not do the job described by the company or provide additional safety if the plant is restarted.

"The instrumentation that you're proposing ... does not appear to be capable of detecting the conditions that would lead to actual tube wear," said Richard Stattel of the agency's instrumentation branch.

Stattel said the company depicted the equipment in its restart plan as an important safety measure "but it doesn't appear to do that." ...