Radiation Leak At San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station: Officials Say ‘Tiny Amount’ Could Have Escaped via Huffington Post

LOS ANGELES — A tiny amount of radiation could have escaped from a Southern California nuclear power plant after a water leak prompted operators to shut down a reactor as a precaution, but plant workers and the public were not endangered, officials said Wednesday.

The leak was detected Tuesday afternoon in Unit 3 at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, about 45 miles north of San Diego. The seaside plant was taken off line while investigators tried to determine what happened.

While the leak wasn’t large enough to require the plant to declare an emergency, any possible leak of radiation into the atmosphere is rare. Also concerning was that “many” tubes that carry pressurized radioactive water were damaged, according to a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The tubes are part of equipment that is virtually new, having been installed in 2010.

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