The State - News from March 26, 1986

A large number of problems discovered at the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant since it broke down in December make it impossible to establish a timetable for restarting the Sacramento-area facility, federal officials have been told. Dewey Lowe, new general manager of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, which owns and operates the plant, also told a panel of Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members that former managers had the “mind-set of a Band-Aid,” reacting only when repairs were necessary and paying little attention to the plant the rest of the time. The plant was shut down after a four-hour emergency that occurred when a system that controls the plant’s operation lost power, allowing a nuclear reactor vessel to cool too quickly.