Nuclear News
California Tsunami Alert Was Wake-Up Call on San Onofre Flood Risk
Paul Blanch | Times of San Diego | 1/20/22
The tsunami advisory that woke up the West Coast Jan. 15 should serve as a wake-up call on flooding dangers at the nuclear waste storage facility in San Onofre. The facility is 100 feet from the beach…
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The Oil Spill is Bad. So is Deadly Contamination You Can’t See or Smell
Bart Ziegler | Voice of OC | 10/20/21
On the topic of environmental disasters, could you imagine trying to deal with contamination from a far deadlier kind of waste that you can’t see or smell and that remains toxic for hundreds of thousands of years?
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39-year battle to remove 86,000 metric tons of nuclear waste continues, with no end in sight
Teri Sforza | Orange County Register | 10/17/21
Who’s to blame for the paralysis that strands millions of pounds of radioactive waste at reactor sites all over the nation, and will cost taxpayers some $40 billion — and perhaps a lot more?
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Judge tosses out lawsuit that sought to stop San Onofre nuclear plant dismantlement
Rob Nikolewski | LA Times | 9/21/21
Deconstruction work at the closed San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station will continue after a judge in Los Angeles County turned back a lawsuit filed by an advocacy group that wanted to halt it…
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Funding Nuclear Energy Is A Waste Of Government Resources, The Industry Is Dying
Greg Jaczko | The Hill – Rising | 9/17/21
Former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Greg Jaczko, explains why U.S. nuclear programs are not up to par in fighting climate change…
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Nuclear industry doesn’t deserve $50 billion subsidy
Bart Ziegler | The Coast News Group | 9/15/21
When the spigot opens for the $3 trillion infrastructure bill, the nuclear industry doesn’t deserve one dime. Unfortunately, the legislation sets aside up to $50 billion to keep clunky, old nuclear reactors running for the next decade. With each electron the inefficient plants…
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San Onofre mostly sent nuclear energy outside San Diego County, but we’re stuck with the waste
Mike Aguirre | The San Diego Union-Tribune | 9/10/21
How will our next generations be able to solve the problem? Our political leaders would like us to ignore or forget the fact that San Diego is now the home to a permanent nuclear waste dump…
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New movement in Congress to create permanent storage for spent nuclear waste
Dan Plante | KUSI | 9/8/21
Now that the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant has been shut down for good, tons of nuclear waste is sitting on the California coast with nowhere to go. Even though it’s the responsibility of the federal government, they have done nothing. But now there’s a…
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Glad San Diego County is taking nuclear waste issue seriously
Alice McNally | San Diego Union-Tribune | 9/7/21
Now commit to employing the strictest safety measures. It’s gratifying to see the county is finally taking an interest in moving the nuclear waste from San Onofre. It is vital to locate a consent-based, permanent home, but the immediate problem is keeping the…
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Investing in More Nuclear Power Can’t Be Our Solution to Climate Change
Sarah Mosko | Times of San Diego | 9/3/21
If you live in Orange or San Diego County, hopefully you’re aware that San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station has been turned into a nuclear waste dump for the foreseeable future. If you live on planet earth, you’re wise to be…
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‘A combination of failures:’ why 3.6m pounds of nuclear waste is buried on a popular California beach
Kate Mishkin | The Guardian | 8/24/21
More than 2 million visitors flock each year to California’s San Onofre state beach, a dreamy slice of coastline just north of San Diego. The beach is popular with surfers…
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County joins coalition to move nuclear waste from San Onofre
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 8/19/21
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has joined a coalition headed by Southern California Edison, the operator of the now-shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, to lobby for federal government action to find an avenue to remove…
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Sea level rise threatens San Onofre nuclear waste
Cathy Iwane | Del Mar Times | 8/19/21
No matter where you live, a new scientific report on global warming can give you something to worry about. Deadly heat waves, severe droughts, sprawling wildfires — the report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change offers something scary…
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Hearing set for lawsuit aimed at stopping dismantlement at San Onofre nuclear plant
Rob Nikolewski | LA Times | 6/4/21
A June 16 court date has been set to hear a lawsuit filed by an advocacy group against the California Coastal Commission, seeking to stop dismantlement work at the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station. Los Angeles County Superior Court…
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More than 8 million Californians live within 50 miles of stored radioactive waste
Lawrence O’Donnell | MSNBC – The Last Word | 6/3/21
There are over 3 million pounds of nuclear waste stored just 100 feet away froma beach at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Congressman Mike Levin (D-CA), who represents San Onofre, Joins Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss…
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Encinitas Environmental Commission reviews safety concerns
Grant Kessler| The Coast News Group | 4/12/21
The Encinitas Environmental Commission last Thursday passed a report advocating for the city’s divestment from fossil fuels, discussed EDCO’s recycling inititatives and reviewed safety concerns at San Onofre Nuclear…
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San Onofre critics dismiss push for federal action on nuclear waste as stunt
Teri Sforza | Orange County Register | 3/29/21
A fresh effort to prod the federal government to fulfill its nearly 40-year-old promise to permanently dispose of the nation’s radioactive waste has been met deep skepticism from some critics. To some fanfare, Southern California Edison…
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Edison releases plan for moving spent fuel, pushes for federal responsibility
Samantha Nelson | The Coast News Group | 3/24/21
In mid-March, Southern California Edison released its plans for the future offsite relocation of spent nuclear fuel currently stored at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The utility company also formed a coalition of stakeholders…
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Lawsuit looks to block dismantlement of San Onofre nuclear plant
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 2/25/21
An advocacy group based in Del Mar is taking the California Coastal Commission to court, looking to stop the dismantlement work underway at the now-shutterred San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Officials with the Samuel Lawrence Foundation say…
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How safe is the water off the coast of San Onofre nuclear plant?
Rob Nikolewski | LA Times | 12/1/20
Though many may not konw it, throughout its existence the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station has discharged wastewater that contains very low levels of radiation. All nuclear power plants relesase some effluents, though the nature and amounts …
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Edison panel should build trust, not stone walls
Cathy Iwane | The Coast News Group | 11/18/20
Southern California Edison’s ratepayer-funded Community Engagement Panel is a sham. The panel’s brand of public outreach is quick to advance the utility’s agenda but sluggish, if not silent, in responding to tough questions. At this point, panelists have…
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On radiation risks, don't trust an Edison employee
Bart Ziegler| San Clemente Times | 10/29/20
In an Oct. 1 Guest Opinon, “Surfing Commnity Deserves Truth from Activisits,” author Greg Becker maeks the kind of case you would never expect from a Southern California Edison employee – that discharges of irradiated water from San Onofre Nuclear Generating…
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How and when the twin domes at San Onofre nuclear plant will come down
Rob Nikolewski | LA Times | 10/23/20
They are prehaps the most distinctive features of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station: the pair of containment domes from Units 2 and 3, rising nearly 200 feet above the ground on the northern edge of San Diego…
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Rep. Levin wants resident inspector at nuclear plants being decommissioned
Debbie Sklar | Times of San Diego | 10/23/20
Democratic Congressman Mike Levin, whose district includes portion of Orange and San Diego counties, Friday introduced federal legislation that would require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to keep a resident inspector…
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On San Onofre's panel's commentary - we disagree
Bart Ziegler | The Coast News Group | 9/23/20
A Sept. 18 commentary in The Coast News made an important point, one we agree with 100 percent, right in the headline: “Next at San Onofre? Remove the fuel.” From there, however, the peice signed by three members of Southern California Edison’s…
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Add nuclear waste to list of social injustices
Chelsi Sparti | CalMatters | 8/31/20
As national attention centers on racial injustices, a report by Rep. Mike Levin of California exposes yet another assualt unpon Black, Indigenous and people of color: they are essentially vulnerable to harm from our handling and storage of radioactive waste. Across the country, as waste from aging nuclear power plants…
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Final canister of nuclear waste transferred to storage facility at San Onofre
Rob Nikolewski | Los Angeles Times | 8/8/20
It took 32 months, but the transfer of dozens of canisters filled with nuclear waste from wet storage pools to a newly constructed dry storage facility at the San Onofre Nuclear Generatin Station wrapped up Friday. Shortly beofre 5 a.m., workers lowered the 73rd…
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California needs leadership on nuclear waste
Bart Ziegler | CalMatters | 7/17/20
From San Onofre to Humboldt Bay, nuclear waste is piling up in California. This mos-toxic waste – tons and tons of it – is deadly for 200,000 years. Stranded next to a rising ocean at aging and decommissioned plants, the waste has no permanent home. California is overdue in showing leadership…
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Commentary: Levin's SONGS report should inform Coastal Commission vote
Bart Ziegler | The Coast News Group | 7/1/20
Rep. Mike Levin’s task force issued a scalding report June 24 on our nation’s handling of nuclear waste. One of its many warnings is the lack of facilities and procedures to contain radiation if storage systems fail…
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Congressman looks to use report to increase efforts to get nuclear waste off the beach
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 6/24/20
A task force put together by Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, released a report Wednesday making 30 policy recommendations for storing and eventually finding a place to send used-up nuclear fuel – in particular, from the San Onofre…
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Levin raises questions about San Onofre nuclear waste transfers, sewage spill
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 4/1/20
Rep. Mike Levin, who made his concerns about nuclear waste at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station a prong in his successful 2018 congressional campaign has sent a letter to the CEO of the parent company of the utility…
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San Onofre nuclear plant continues waste transfers amid COVID-19 restrictions
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 3/25/20
Southern California Edison, the operator of the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant, announced Wednesday a “temporary curtailment of some destruction work” at the facility but said transfers of heavy canisters…
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State energy regulators approve more funding to decommission San Onofre nuclear plant
Jeff McDonald | Los Angeles Times | 3/13/20
California utility regulators awarded owners of the San Onofre nuclear plant hundreds of millions of dollars in new money to pay for ongoing decommissioning of the shuttered power station, rejecting a protest from a San Diego…
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San Onofre nuclear plant installs radiation monitoring system
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 3/11/20
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station has unveiled a monitoring system that collects readings of the radiation emitted by the used-up nuclear fuel that is housed in a newly constructed facility at the plant. Three monitors feed information…
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Belly Up hosts 'Songs for SONGS' to protest San Onofre nuclear waste storage
Luke Harold | Del Mar Times | 2/26/20
A lineup of local leaders, musicians and other performers protested nuclear waste storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station during “Songs for SONGS” at Belly Up in Solana Beach on Feb. 24. Chris Goldsmith, president of…
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The 8-year project to dismantle San Onofre nuclear plant is about to begin
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 1/26/20
Seven years after the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station officially went offline, the eight-year process of physically dismantling the plant and knocking down the domes that have loomed over the landscape of Camp Pendleton for four decades…
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Opinion: California's San Onofre nuclear plant is a Chernobyl waiting to happen
Kate Brown | Los Angeles Times | 11/19/19
Last month, the California Coastal Commission gave Southern California Edison permission to dismantle the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and move its 3.55 million pounds of nuclear waste from wet to dry storage.
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S.O.N.G.S. ceased operation in 2013 but the battle over dismantling still rages
Ken Silverstein | Forbes | 10/22/19
When S.O.N.G.S. officially ceased operations in 2013, most Americans moved on. But not in southern California, where activists and regulators are now at loggerheads over how to dismantle the site and where to store fuel.
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Coastal Commission OKs permit to dismantle San Onofre nuclear plant
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 10/17/19
The California Coastal Commission, on a 9-0 vote, gave approval Thursday for Southern California Edison to proceed with plans to dismantle the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station where canisters loaded with nuclear waste…
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Demolition of San Onofre nuclear plant comes before Coastal Commission in the fall
Teri Sforza | Orange County Register | 9/9/19
When the iconic domes of San Onofre’s nucelar reactors are finally demolished, “significant amounts of foundation, footings, and other existing material” are expected to remain, unseen, beneath the bluff on the ocean…
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The NRC hosts a raucous town hall about San Onofre Operations
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 8/21/19
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a town hall Tuesday night in San Juan Capistrano to discuss the recent restart of nuclear waste transfers at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station…
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Where could the nuclear waste go? It's not an easy question to answer.
Rob Nikolewski| San Diego Union Tribune | 7/27/19
Earlier this month, Southern California Edison — the operators of the now-shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant — resumed transferring heavy conasiters filled with spent fuel assemblies from wet storage pools…
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Solana Beach council revises take on San Onofre spent nuclear waste
Michael J. Williams | Del Mar Times | 7/17/19
Responding to pressure from residents, a majority of Solana Beach City Council members passed a resolution last week intended to make a stronger statement about the need to address nuclear waste storage…
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Scott Peters calls for federal action on San Onofre nuclear fuel storage
City News Source | KPBS | 6/17/19
Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, is calling on the federal government to determine and commit to an interim and long-term plan for nuclear waste storage. Peters challenged the rest of the federal government on Friday…
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San Onofre Task Force questions Edison about nuclear waste canisters
Alison St John| KPBS | 5/29/19
Members of a San Onofre Task Force convened by San Diego Congressman Mike Levin are meeting Wednesday with officials from Southern California Edison, which owns and operates the shuttered nuclear power plant in North San Diego County…
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Federal regulators OKs resuming transfers of nuclear waste at San Onofre
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 5/21/19
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday gave the operators of the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, also known as SONGS, the green light to resume transferring canisters filled with nuclear waste…
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Moving nuclear waste at San Onofre sparks war of words between contractor, community
Teri Sforza | Orange County Register | 5/15/19
Concerns about Holtec International’s ability to do its job — moving San Onofre’s highly radioactive nuclear waste from wet to dry storage — have been voiced by leaders of a citizens panel advising SoCal Edison…
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Congressmen Levin proposes bill to tackle San Onofre nuclear storage
Claire Trageser | KPBS | 4/16/19
Congressman Mike Levin on Tuesday waded into the ongoing dilemma over what to do about the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The process of storing spent fuel there is on hold after an accident last summer…
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Scratches on canisters at San Onofre are no big deal, designer says, but others worry
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 4/10/19
The contractor that designed the 50-ton canisters that hold fuel assemblies of nuclear waste at the San Onofre nuclear plant has changed the working in a federal regulation to acknowledge the canisters have scratches…
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House Democrats want $25 million for program to move nuclear waste
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune |4/1/19
A group of 15 Democrats on Capitol Hill have requested Congress spend $25 million to support the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a consolidated interim storage program aimed at finding a place to send used fuel…
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NRC: No transfers of canisters San Onofre until flap over scratches is sorted out
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 3/29/19
An administrator at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission offered more details about why the agency is not allowing Southern California Edison — the operator of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station — to resume moving heavy…
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NRC fines Southern California Edison $116,000 for nuclear canister incident
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 3/25/19
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission hit Southern California Edison on Monday with $116,000 in civil penalties following an incident last August where a 50-ton canister filled with nuclear waste was left suspended for 45 minutes…
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Reports: San Onofre nuclear site 'fatally flawed' and could cost $13.4 trillion
Samantha Taylor | The Coast News Group | 1/17/19
Nuclear waste storage facilities at the decommissioning San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station are “fatally flawed” and could cost Southern California nearly $13.4 trillion over a 50-year period if a major release of radiation occurs…
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San Onofre plant aims to resume transfers of nuclear waste in January
Rob Nikolewski | San Diego Union Tribune | 11/29/18
Southern California Edison, the operator of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, plans to resume transferring canisters filled with spent nuclear fuel in mid-January to a newly constructed storage facility at the plant…
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Op-Ed: The San Onofre nuclear plant is a 'Fukusima waiting to happen'
Steve Chapple | Los Angeles Times | 8/15/18
Southern California Edison is keeping 3.6 million pounds of lethal radioactive waste at the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant in San Clemente. The waste poses a significant threat to the health, safety and economic vitality…
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Musicians Protest nuclear waste at SONGS with songs at Belly Up
Rutger Rosenborg | NBC San Diego | 9/29/18
At 7 p.m. on Oct. 8, Belly Up is set to transform into a 60’s style rally featuring musicians and speakers protesting nuclear waste storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). It’s a free affair that aims to generate support…
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Timeline: 2013 Shutdown of San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant Explained
R. Stickney | NBC San Diego | 5/28/13
A look at the key events, meetings and reports involving the shut down of the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station located between San Diego and Los Angeles along the Pacific Ocean. Events start with an ammonia leak in 2011…
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