An environmental watchdog group seeking to halt decommissioning operations at Southern California Edison’s shuttered nuclear power plant will have its day in court next week.
The Superior Court of California for the county of Los Angeles was scheduled to hear The Samuel Lawrence Foundation’s case against the California Coastal Commission on June 16, according to the case docket. The non-profit, which according to its website focuses on “the environmental threat arising from nuclear waste,” filed suit against the Commission late last year over a 2019 permit it issued to Southern California Edison (SCE) allowing the utility company to decommission San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
The December lawsuit argues that the Coastal Commission violated state environmental law when it issued a coastal development permit to Southern California Edison. According to Samuel Lawrence, the commission didn’t properly assess decommissioning activities at SONGS for geologic stability or seismic and tsunami risks. The non-profit’s website also lists spent fuel among its concerns, arguing that SCE has “no plan for repairing or replacing” on-site dry storage canisters containing the plant’s 3.6 million pounds of spent fuel.
A spokesperson for SCE said via email Friday that the company has a “proven method for canister repair which was developed as part of an inspection and maintenance program required by our coastal development permit from the Coastal Commission.”
“The facts clearly show that the Coastal Commission was thorough in its analysis, thoughtful in its review and correct in its decision to approve the coastal development permit to safely dismantle SONGS,” the spokesperson said. “We maintain a shared interest with the local communities to move forward with dismantling the plant in a safe and timely manner and restoring the SONGS site for return to the U.S. Navy.”
Meanwhile, SONGS stakeholders are investigating storage solutions for the plant’s spent fuel inventory. A three-part report released by Edison in March listed commercial interim storage as the best possible option for getting nuclear waste off the California coast.
Action for Spent Fuel Solutions Now, a new stakeholders’ coalition also formed in March by SCE and San Diego Gas and Electric, aims to pressure the federal government into creating “a new organizational framework [for spent fuel disposal] with autonomy and reliable funding, support consolidated interim storage, start a new repository program, and invest in spent fuel transportation readiness,” according to a March 15 press release.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to say that the spokesperson represents Southern California Edison.
