Dive Summary:

• Offline since January and likely to stay that way through November, the longest outage ever at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s two existing reactors has consumer advocates invoking provisions of California law that calls for significant “rate base” deductions for consumers in such instances.
• Southern California was faced with a similar issue three decades ago when San Onofre’s Unit 1 reactor stood idle for three years and a complex rate rebate plan never came to fruition.
• The current shutdown began in January after a radiation leak was detected and traced to steam generator tubes carrying radioactive water, and plant operator Southern California Edison is hoping to submit plans in early October for running Unit 2 at reduced power.

From the article:

The longest outage ever at San Onofre’s two existing nuclear reactors is set to test provisions and principles of California law designed to free utility customers from paying to operate power plants that are no longer useful. Offline since January, the reactors are almost certain to stay shut through November, triggering an evaluation by state regulators of whether to reduce customer rates associated with the plant. ...