Yes, we are safer since the plant has been retired – but we are not safe.
The Coalition to Decommission San Onofre (CDSO) has been startled by the enormous challenge of managing radioactive nuclear waste at the plant. The issues include: unusually potent forms of fuel, dense storage of spent fuel far beyond design limits, large uncertainties about where the waste will ultimately be stored and for how long, and last but not least, the economics of decommissioning. These issues were below the radar during the shutdown debate, but they now loom large.
The Coalition has secured the involvement of top-rated nuclear waste specialists to provide crucial details about the current situation at San Onofre and other U.S. nuclear power plants.
Find out what's happening in San Clementewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Arjun Makhijani is an expert on HOSS (Hardened On Site Storage) and long-term high-level waste management issues. Marvin Resnikoff has worked on nuclear waste issues with government, industry, and activists for decades.
Our immediate goal in securing this expertise is to assure that best practices will be applied to minimize the risk for those who must live with San Onofre as a nuclear waste dump. Our ultimate goal is to reinvigorate America’s national dialog on radioactive nuclear waste.
Find out what's happening in San Clementewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Coalition is equally active on economic issues. Since January 2013, we have been a formal Party to the California Public Utilities Commission investigations regarding who will pay for the defective plant, and what costs will be authorized for reimbursement from the Decommissioning Fund. Much is at stake. Will the $3.4 billion in the Fund be used solely to cover crucial tasks? Will utility customers be protected from unjustified future charges?
Representing the Coalition on behalf of Southern California ratepayers are Martha Sullivan, with 20 years’ experience as a CPUC staffer, and engineer Ray Lutz, CEO of Citizens Oversight, Inc. They have formal standing as interveners along with other ratepayer advocates during four upcoming multi-year phases.
Responses received from our panel of experts, in video and written form, will serve to better inform public participation at upcoming hearings and public meetings of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). They will also provide program content for briefings and seminars held by the Coalition, with an invitation to other groups around the country to use these presentations at their own events.
Gene Stone
Coalition to Decommission San Onofre
