SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — The public can now check radiation levels at the San Onofre nuclear power plant online.
Tuesday, Southern California Edison, the company that owns the plant, unveiled its new radiation monitoring system.
Four monitors are recording radiation levels gathered from the spent fuel storage site. The results will be posted each month on the California Department of Public Health's website.
"[The monitors] are very sensitive, they read in microrem, which is the millionth of a rem," said Engineering Manager Jerry Stephenson.
The report will list a maximum, a minimum, and an average dose rate.
Stephensen said the amount of radiation emitted is low.
"Our government guidelines for occupational workers is a cumulative exposure of 5,000 millirem per year so this is a very, very low rate. If I were to stand [next to the spent fuel site] all year long I would receive only a few millirem in reality over the course of a year," said Program Manager Jeff Carey.
The company said background radiation the general public is exposed to on a regular basis is higher than what this storage site emits.
"It’s significantly lower than what you get from say an x-ray at the dentist office or a medical facility," said engineer Brian Sarno.
Eight years ago, the nuclear power plant was taken offline after a small radioactive leak in a steam generator. Since then, there's been controversy over storage of the plant's radioactive nuclear waste.
Southern California Edison officials hope this new system will help ease the public's fears.
The new monitoring system cost about $300,000. Southern California Edison says its paid for through the decommissioning trust fund set up back in 1988.