U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Tuesday urged the Department of Energy to schedule a public nuclear waste storage meeting in his Southern California district, which encompasses the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
The department in January held the first of several public meetings scheduled this year for its consent-based siting effort on nuclear waste storage. The plan, over a likely period of decades, envisions establishment of a pilot storage facility; one or more larger, interim facilities; and at least one permanent geologic repository. The first meeting was held in Washington, D.C., followed by a March 29 meeting in Chicago. The schedule includes six more stops through July: Boise, Idaho; Boston; Denver, Colo.; Minneapolis; Sacramento, Calif.; and Tempe, Ariz.
Issa, along with several other California lawmakers and residents, have been clamoring for removal of waste now held on-site at SONGS.
“My district is home to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Stations (SONGS), which is in the initial stages of decommissioning which will be completed by 2031,” Issa wrote in the letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “Positioned near an active fault line, sandwiched between the heavily-trafficked I-5 Freeway and the Pacific Ocean, and bordering the densely-populated Orange and San Diego Counties, the storage of more than 3.6 million pounds of high-level nuclear waste at the SONGS site is of great concern to the over 8 million people of this region.”
While DOE is gathering public feedback on the consent-based waste siting process, Issa said he would urge residents to submit written public comments to the Federal Register, but an in-person meeting is needed to “enable greater participation and active conversation with local specialists.”
Any comment from DOE on the request?
Last month, a senior executive with SONGS operator Southern California Edison said the company expects to select its lead contractor for the estimated $4.4. billion decommissioning project in June or July. Three groups are in the running: Team Holtec; a team led by Bechtel; and an AECOM/EnergySolutions partnership. SCE plans to expand its on-site fuel storage operation by mid-2019, moving the remainder of its spent reactor fuel from two cooling ponds to an expanded independent spent fuel storage installation pad.
