Millions of pounds of spent nuclear fuel will remain in storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station for decades — and potentially much longer — raising concerns among experts about the long-term health and environmental risks of storing radioactive waste so close to San Diego.
The spent nuclear fuel provided power for two generations of Californians, but its resulting waste will remain hazardous for thousands of years, according to James Day, a professor of geosciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
“Nuclear power produces waste that goes for possibly as long as 2,000 generations,” Day said. “It’s my job to tell you that, geologically, we must be thinking long-term — generational. How do we use or remove waste that has produced over 40 years of energy?”…