SCE Releases Strategic Plan for Relocation of San Onofre’s Spent Nuclear Fuel; New Coalition Launched to Catalyze Solutions

Southern California Edison distributed a three-volume set of plans supporting the offsite relocation of the spent nuclear fuel currently stored at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The strategies are outlined in the Action Plan, Strategic Plan and Conceptual Transportation Plan.

To further build momentum toward commercially reasonable offsite storage or disposal solutions, and to urge the federal government to meet its legal obligations, SCE and the counties of Orange and San Diego announced the formation of a stakeholder coalition, Action for Spent Fuel Solutions Now.

“SCE and our partners and stakeholders have a genuine opportunity to bring people together with a shared interest to prepare and advocate for the relocation of the spent fuel away from the coast,” said Kevin Payne, SCE’s president and CEO. “It is clear that to make tangible progress on this issue, the federal government must act. Rather than wait for this to happen, we are going to be a catalyst for change.”

The release of the plans constitutes a significant milestone in a process that began with the 2017 settlement regarding the coastal development permit issued for San Onofre’s expanded spent fuel storage system. There are 123 canisters of spent nuclear fuel at San Onofre and no federal repository available to relocate them to at this time. The Department of Energy was to begin transporting spent fuel from nuclear sites across the country to a repository in 1998.

“These plans provide the opportunity to analyze three broad areas related to spent nuclear fuel removal. First, identifying the pathways, options and feasibility, both near term and long term, to relocate the fuel. Second, the transportation considerations to safely get from point A to point B. And third, the steps SCE must take to be prepared when the opportunity arises,” said Doug Bauder, SCE vice president and chief nuclear officer.

As SCE pursues these strategies, a key concern is protecting customers from incurring additional costs for spent fuel transportation and eventual storage or disposal. California electricity users once served by the nuclear plant have already paid nearly $1 billion into the federal Nuclear Waste Fund, which now totals more than $43 billion.

The Plans

SCE retained North Wind, Inc. to develop the plans in June 2019. The North Wind consultants worked with SCE and its Experts Team, nationally recognized leaders in nuclear waste policy, spent nuclear fuel transportation and nuclear engineering and science, to support development of the plans.