The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is on a path to complete its major decommissioning work by the end of 2028 and could reach final disposal in the near future, according to a recent report.
Rep. Mike Levin’s (D-Calif.) office released the 2026 SONGS report late October, touting the progress the shuttered plant has made decommissioning over the past several years. Since the inception of the SONGS Task Force in 2019, all spent nuclear fuel has been moved from wet pools to dry storage and more than 700 million pounds of material have been transported from the site, according to the report.
Additionally, 52 of the SONGS site’s 62 structures have been demolished, with both of the site’s containment domes to come down by the end of 2027.
“When I convened the SONGS Task Force in 2019, there was no clear path to move nuclear waste off our coastline,” Levin said in an Oct. 28 press statement. “Today, we can point to real progress at San Onofre and growing momentum at the federal level.”
Levin continued, “But more than 1,600 tons of spent nuclear fuel still sit just 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean. We cannot mistake progress for a permanent solution. I will keep working across party lines to secure the funding, reforms, and safe storage and disposal options needed to finally get this waste off our coast.”
While much of the decommissioning work is moving forward at the site, Levin is bullish on foreseeing a possible road to final disposal: the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus.
Levin sees the nuclear campus program as a means to potentially dispose of the waste that currently sits at SONGS, which is located near San Diego. According to the report, in order for the campuses to achieve its purpose, Congress “must act to modernize our nuclear waste laws in order to allow for the successful siting of a repository through a collaborative process.”
