U.S. Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) on Friday announced creation of a task force to study safety issues at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in his state.
“Today I’m launching a task force made up of local stakeholders and experts to tackle the enormous safety challenges we face with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. We cannot allow the status quo to continue indefinitely, and I know this group is ready to get to work,” Levin, elected in November to succeed Rep. Darrell Issa (R) in California’s 49th Congressional District, said in an announcement posted on Facebook.
The task force will be headed by former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko and retired U.S. Navy. Rear Adm. Leendert Hering Sr, according to a release from Levin’s office cited by the Orange County Register. Its aim will be to provide options for safe relocation and storage of nuclear waste from the San Diego County power plant.
Majority owner Southern California Edison (SCE) permanently closed SONGS in 2013 due to problems with steam generators in its two remaining operational reactors. The utility, through contractor Holtec International, has been moving the remainder of the facility’s used fuel into dry storage on-site.
Local watchdog groups and residents have raised concerns about holding the radioactive material for years in a heavily populated, seismically active area close to the Pacific Ocean. While SCE says its spent fuel storage pad is built to withstand earthquakes and other dangers, it agreed in 2017 to pursue “commercially reasonable” efforts to relocate the material.
The transfer of SONGS’ spent fuel from wet to dry storage has been on hold since an Aug. 3, 2018, mishap in placing one canister into place on the pad. The NRC is considering fines or other forms of elevated enforcement following the incident.
“Southern California Edison welcomes Congressman Mike Levin’s interest in the issues surrounding the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel,” the utility said in a statement Friday. “The congressman and SCE share common ground in a desire to have the spent fuel at the San Onofre nuclear plant (SONGS) moved to a permanent geologic repository or a consolidated interim storage site.”
