Southern California Edison on Tuesday gave newly elected Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) the business over his recent warning about the safety of spent nuclear fuel in storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
“There is no credible scenario in which this tweet from @MikeLevinCA would be factual,” the utility, majority owner and licensee for the retired nuclear power plant, said in its own tweet. “Moving spent fuel away from SONGS is an important issue. False claims not based in science should have no place in the discussion.”
The message was a direct response to this tweet from Levin, a day earlier: “A worst-case scenario nuclear disaster at San Onofre would be devastating for millions of people. We cannot allow the status quo to continue indefinitely, which is why we must find new solutions to deal with the grave safety challenges we face.”
Levin was elected in November to represent California’s 49th Congressional District, which covers the property on which SONGS sites. He succeeded longtime Rep. Darrell Issa (R), who did not seek re-election.
In January, Levin announced formation of a task force to address safety issues at the nuclear plant. It will be led by former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko and retired Navy Rear Adm. Leendert Hering Sr.
More than 3.5 million pounds of used fuel from SONGS’ three reactors, all shut down as of 2013, is either in wet or dry storage on-site at the property alongside the Pacific Ocean. Contractor Holtec International has been moving the remaining fuel assemblies from Units 2 and 3 to an expanded storage pad, but that operation has been suspended since an August 2018 mishap in loading one canister into place.
On its community engagement website for the plant decommissioning, Southern California Edison notes that “San Onofre is designed to withstand the maximum credible earthquake for its location without releasing radioactive materials. Still, it agreed in 2017 to evaluate “commercially reasonable” options for moving the used fuel off-site.
