The San Onofre Community Engagement Panel (CEP) on Thursday will hear from the retired California nuclear plant’s decommissioning general contractor and consider fresh research on the seismic situation in the region.
Southern California Edison in December selected SONGS Decommissioning Solutions, a partnership of AECOM and EnergySolutions, to lead the dismantlement of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The joint venture at this week’s meeting will present “an overview of major dismantlement work scheduled to begin next year,” according to a CEP press release.
An update on the plant’s $4.4 billion decommissioning is also scheduled from Tom Palmisano, Southern California Edison vice president and chief nuclear officer.
Meanwhile, Neal Driscoll, a geology and geophysics professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, will discuss “new research regarding known and hypothesized faults, mandated by the California Energy Commission to evaluate potential seismic impacts at the San Onofre nuclear plant,” the release says.
The earthquake danger to the facility remains a concern in the area, particularly as majority owner Southern California Edison seeks solutions for storage of SONGS’ spent nuclear fuel. Two relevant peer-reviewed studies on the topic have been published in Marine Geology and Applied Geology in California.
The CEP meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. local time at the Ocean Institute, 24200 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Dana Point. Live-streaming will be available at songscommunity.com.
