The Cost of an Idle San Onofre-Edison Makes a Big Decision

The cost of having the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) sit idle for 18 months has reached $553 million. Some of the costs were incurred with $109 million spent on repairs & inspections, and the rest was for replacement power. The facility was initially shut down after a tube in a recently installed generator began leaking radioactive steam. Further inspections revealed that hundreds of tubes were wearing out at an unusually fast rate. When running, SONGS can supply enough electricity to power approximately 1.4 million homes. SDGE announced last week that they have decided to permanently close the plant. This decision means that officials must now begin making plans to replenish the power grid, without SONGS. Edison will have to continue to buy power from elsewhere-$500 million has already been spent since the plan shut down-while replacement steam power sources are debated. In addition to an impact on the power supply, close to 1000 employees will now be relocated or offered early retirement. How this will affect the local housing market is anyone's guess-in all likelihood some of those employees may decide to move. Transferred employees may decide to sell their South Orange County home, and this may actually be a good thing for a our local market. An ongoing shortage of inventory is making a full market recovery difficult-in the big picture, more homes available to eager buyers can only be a good thing. Leonard Newman is the Broker/Owner of Newman Realty-located in downtown San Juan Capistrano directly across from the Historic Mission. Contact him at: 949-218-6252