By Sarah Mosko, PhD
Appeared:
Laguna Beach Independent, 17-Oct, 2025, p. 20
Times of San Diego, 18-Oct, 2025
Escondido Grapevine, 20-Oct, 2025
Fullerton Observer, 22-Oct, 2025
Newport Beach Independent, 24-Oct, 2025, p. 17
Capistrano Dispatch, 24-Oct, 2025, p. 10
Voice of OC, 28-Oct, 2025
The Coast News, 04-Nov, 2025
Sandwiched between the I-5 Fwy and the shore, San Onofre is vulnerable to terrorism, earthquakes/tsunamis and sea level rise. (Photo:MattGush)
September 30, 2025 may mark the day communities in Southern California first took initiative to protect themselves from deadly nuclear waste stranded indefinitely at San Onofre.
With Irvine Mayor Larry Agran spearheading the effort, a Special Study Session of the Irvine City Council convened on Sept. 30 to address the risks of 3.6 million pounds of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel (SNF) stored in temporary canisters, out in the open, in an earthquake zone, and just 108 feet from the shoreline. The safety threats include terrorism, sea level rise, earthquakes, tsunamis, and cannister corrosion from exposure to moist, salty air.
Because many of the fission products of nuclear reactors, like Cesium-137, are highly radioactive and extremely long-lived, SNF requires isolation for hundreds of thousands of years. Each of San Onofre’s 123 canisters contains about one-third the Cesium-137 as was released during the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The canisters were not designed for long-term storage and lack methodology to monitor in real time for radiation leaks or canister degradation.
The nuclear waste will remain at San Onofre for the foreseeable future because of the federal government’s failure to create a permanent geologic repository for the nation’s commercial SNF, as mandated by law. In response, some lawmakers are hoping to convince communities in Texas and New Mexico to amass SNF in “consolidated interim storage” (CIS) facilities until a geologic repository materializes. So far, such efforts have been blocked by those states out of fear of becoming de facto permanent waste dumps.
For us living near San Onofre, it is critical to understand that, even if a community somewhere consented to hosting CIS, the earliest one could open would be 2038-2040, according to the Department of Energy. Then, it could take a few more decades for all of San Onofre’s SNF to relocate because of competition with other nuclear plants to transfer their waste too.
This means we should be planning for SNF to remain at San Onofre until at least 2060.
Mayor Agran’s opening remarks emphasized the responsibility of every level of government – including local jurisdictions – to protect its citizens. He is calling on the City of Irvine to commission the development of a plan to move San Onfre’s SNF into a safer storage configuration until the federal government can take possession of it.
Agran’s proposal includes relocating the canisters away from the shore, onto higher ground at Camp Pendleton, and into a storage building both fortified to eliminate exposure to the marine environment and insults like earthquakes, tsunamis, and terrorism and equipped to repackage the waste if the canisters fail.
There is urgency to relocate the waste now while the canisters retain enough structural integrity to be moved. Components of the proposal have been informally endorsed by several nuclear safety experts with whom I have consulted privately in working alongside Agran.
Prior Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Dr. Gregory Jaczko, topped the study session’s speakers list. His voiced concerns included the renewal of official permits allowing San Onofre’s SNF to remain stored, as is, going forward. He supports efforts on the local level to “move forward” to a better interim storage solution.
A presentation followed from Dr. David Richardson, U.C. Irvine Professor of Environmental & Occupational Health. Though he primarily researches cancer risks from radiation exposure, he explained how a radiation release also greatly alters people’s relationship to the environment, e.g., property values, use of gardens, and deciding where to live. He has consented to assist in developing a plan for San Onofre.
Dan Stetson, Chairman of the Community Engagement Panel for the decommissioning of the San Onofre plant, described the panel’s purpose as providing a venue for the public to engage in what are often “spirited” discussions with Southern California Edison (SCE). He stressed that SCE and the public are both focused on the safe storage of the SNF and its prompt removal. The panel’s solution, however, is finding communities to host CIS.
The final presenters were representatives of SCE: Frederic Bailly, the Chief Nuclear Officer, and Manuel Camargo, the Principal Manager of Decommissioning. Bailly explained SCE’s view that “the spent fuel storage is safe where it is” and that “there is no credible scenario that could result in the release of radiological material beyond the site.” Camargo, however, stressed SCE’s energetic support of “getting the spent fuel offsite” and explained that amendments to existing law would be necessary to make way for CIS.
About 150 members of the public filled the council chambers. The 17 commentors from the public were unanimous in voicing concerns about leaving the SNF as is.
The session closed with poignant testimony from Councilmember Mike Carroll who recounted his personal experience in exposing biohazardous government research in New York which resulted in the shutdown of the laboratory. He enumerated many shortcomings he sees in how San Onofre’s SNF is currently stored.
A council vote on Mayor Agran’s proposal will take place sometime soon. His hope is that, with Irvine taking the lead, other jurisdictions in Orange and San Diego Counties will join in to keep everyone in Southern California safe.
Boogie Green 