The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station operated for 57 days last year and this year despite a broken backup generator, according to documents obtained by the Arizona Republic.
The documents show experts at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission disagreed over whether the plant should have been allowed to keep running while it was being repaired.
Normally, the NRC makes a nuclear plant shut down, then gives it ten days to make repairs.
The backup generator was knocked out of service after an explosion last year.
The power plant was given two extensions by the NRC to make the repairs and the plan didn't have to shut down.
The backup generator was out of service from mid-December to early February.
The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is the second largest nuclear power plant in the country.
Officials from the plant said it would have been more dangerous to completely shut down the plant.
