3.6 Million Pounds of Spent Fuel Remain at San Onofre
Five states have signed agreements to explore new nuclear storage concepts as decommissioning nears its final stages.
By Kevin Sanders ·
Officials reported new progress on the removal of spent nuclear fuel from the San Onofre site in California. The shift marks a change in strategy after decades of stalled efforts to find a permanent location for the waste.
Approximately 3.6 million pounds of spent fuel currently sits in dry storage at the plant. The facility has been shut down for more than a decade following the discovery of premature tube wear in 2012. Southern California Edison announced the permanent closure in 2013. The dismantling of the facility is now about 80% complete, with the containment domes scheduled for removal by the end of 2027.
Representative Mike Levin stated that states are actively volunteering to participate in the solution. Five states have signed agreements to explore a concept called Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses. The Department of Energy is developing this model to integrate research, fuel processing, power generation, and waste disposal. The participating states are Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Idaho.
Levin noted that the federal government has not yet met its 1998 obligation to remove the waste from the site. He cited a daily cost to taxpayers of roughly $3 million for storing spent fuel at nuclear sites. Steven Powell, CEO of Southern California Edison, confirmed that the dry storage system is safe. He noted the system was built to withstand extreme coastal conditions, including earthquakes and tsunamis, but added that leaving the fuel there is not a long-term solution.
Transportation logistics are advancing alongside storage planning. The Atlas railcar, designed to move spent fuel over existing commercial railways, is scheduled for testing in April. A test trip is planned from Virginia to Idaho. If that test succeeds, an actual canister of spent fuel will travel the same route in the fall.
Levin said a train carrying spent nuclear fuel could leave San Onofre by the end of the next decade if the process moves forward as planned. He described the current state agreements as a major development in the long search for a destination for the waste.
Source: KGTV
