Is there another option to get the nuclear waste out of San Onofre?

1 month ago 3

Some 3.55 million pounds of nuclear waste is beached at San Onofre.

The spent fuel held in more than 120 stainless steel canisters at the now-shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, lodged between the Pacific Ocean to the west and Interstate 5 on the east, has nowhere to go because the federal government has yet to find a permanent repository to send it.

It’s not just an issue for the facility at San Onofre, known as SONGS, but for all the spent fuel that has stacked up over the years at commercial nuclear power plants across the country.

But are there other avenues where the waste can go?

Recent progress and research in both the public and private sectors aimed at reprocessing spent fuel and using it to power advanced reactors or other emerging technologies may offer at least some glimmer of hope.

With those possibilities in mind, Jim Desmond of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors recently introduced a resolution to explore potential pathways at SONGS for nascent initiatives on the nuclear energy horizon.

“We’ve talked about this problem for more than a decade,” Desmond said after the board unanimously approved the measure on Dec. 9. “We can’t keep waiting. It’s time to turn this challenge into an opportunity.”