The San Onofre nuclear plant has been shut down for years, but one of its biggest dangers is still sitting on the coast. Roughly 3.6 million pounds of spent nuclear fuel remain stored at the site in temporary canisters near the shoreline, raising fresh calls for a regional safety plan while the federal government continues to delay a long-term solution.
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In a community opinion piece for Voice of OC, Orange County resident Sarah Mosko said the lack of a permanent federal repository for commercial spent fuel has effectively turned San Onofre into a nuclear waste site.
She said about 3.6 million pounds of highly radioactive waste remain at the facility south of San Clemente in 123 temporary storage canisters. According to Mosko, those canisters were not built for indefinite use and are vulnerable to corrosion and cracking in salty coastal air.
Mosko also said each canister holds cesium-137 equal to roughly one-third of the amount released in the 2011 Fukushima disaster. She argued that the site’s position next to the Pacific Ocean and Interstate 5 adds concerns about flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, sea-level rise, and security threats…