Who will pay if San Onofre nuclear plant is restarted? [Video discussion]

With costs mounting at the San Onofre nuclear plant, officials are weighing whether it makes financial sense to bring it back online, and if so, who will pay for the repairs?

The Times will host a Google+ Hangout at 11 a.m. PDT with Times reporter Abby Sewell and city editor Shelby Grad about the troubled nuclear plant. We invite you to join in on the conversation by posting comments below or on The Times’ Facebook and Google Plus pages or on Twitter using the #asklatimes hashtag.

In her story about the looming costs of both reopening the plant and keeping it shuttered, Sewell reported:

Fixing San Onofre is shaping up to be an expensive proposition, with the price tag jumping into the hundreds of millions of dollars if the plant's massive steam generators require replacing.

But keeping San Onofre shuttered is also proving costly to the two utilities that own the plant. Southern California Edison had spent $117 million by June 30 to replace the power lost when San Onofre went offline, and San Diego Gas & Electric had spent $25 million, costs that ratepayers may be asked to pick up.

Imported energy is more expensive than electricity generated at San Onofre, which had provided about 20% of the power to large swaths of Southern California.

The first task for the utilities and federal regulators is to determine whether San Onofre can safely be restarted.

But the question of costs is also looming.

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