Shipment of two Japanese steam generators to the San Onofre nuclear plant has been delayed after the company building them discovered welding flaws during the manufacturing process, a Southern California Edison spokesman said Thursday.

The 640-ton generators are the second pair being built for San Onofre by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Kobe, Japan; the first pair was delivered earlier this year. Those two are scheduled to be installed beginning later this month.

Each of the power plant’s two remaining reactors is having its two steam-generators replaced for a total cost of $670 million.

The first pair of generators were made by the same company with a different manufacturing process, and inspections showed they do not have welding flaws, said Edison spokesman Gil Alexander.

The delay won’t disrupt the scheduled replacement of the second pair of steam generators, Alexander said.

The steam generators circulate water heated by the reactors to create steam. The reactors are shut down, and all nuclear material is removed before a hole is cut into containment domes to install the new steam generators.

The delay means that instead of the generators being shipped in December or January, they will most likely be shipped in June or July, Alexander said. That would still allow for installation on schedule in November 2010, he said.

(Register photo showing movement of 640-ton steam generator to San Onofre nuclear plant in February by Joshua Sudock.)

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