U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer wants the Justice Department to investigate if California utility executives deceived federal regulators about an equipment swap at the San Onofre nuclear power plant that eventually led to a radiation leak, reports the Associated Press. 

The California Democrat obtained a 2004 internal letter written by a senior Southern California Edison executive that she said "leads me to believe that Edison intentionally misled the public and regulators" to avoid a potentially long and costly review of four replacement steam generators before they went into service.

The twin-domed plant between Los Angeles and San Diego hasn't produced electricity since January 2012, after a small radiation leak led to the discovery of unusually rapid wear inside hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water in the nearly new generators.

The Los Angeles Times has also reported on this story: 

"Environmental group Friends of the Earth has asserted that many of the design changes should have prompted a license amendment, which would potentially involve a lengthy public hearing process, and that Edison deliberately sidestepped that process."

In a May 13 ruling by the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, the three-judge panel unanimously ruled that Edison’s plans to restart the damaged reactors would be  an “experiment” for which they had inadequate experience and which would be outside both their technical specifications and licensing requirements.

FOE has issued a press release: “Friends of the Earth accused them, the ASLB judged them and now Edison has confessed,” said Dave Freeman, former head of the federal Tennessee Valley Authority and senior advisor to Friends of the Earth. “The San Onofre restart plan is now deader than a doornail. It’s over.”