Millions of pounds of dangerous nuclear waste buried under California beach
The waste is buried about 100 feet from the shoreline.
By Chrstian Spencer | Aug. 25, 2021 — TheHill.com
The San Onofre state beach has 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste buried underneath it, a byproduct of a shuttered nuclear generating station, The Guardian reports.
On Aug. 19, the San Diego Board of Supervisors voted to allocate $100,000 to push to move the waste to a federally licensed facility, The San Diego Union Tribune reports.
The initiative, Action For Spent Fuel Solutions Now, is a coalition meant to pressure the federal government to provide off-site storage or disposal solutions for the nuclear fuel from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is a now-closed station made up of three nuclear reactors and primarily owned by the utility Southern California Edison, according to The Guardian.
The San Diego County resolution supports Orange County, SCE, SDG&E, the Capistrano School District and the city of San Clemente in the coalition.
“It’s critical to our community, our state and our county to find a solution,” said county supervisor Jim Desmond, according to The San Diego Tribune.
“The waste at San Onofre is a threat to our community and as we work to remove it, our priority is to guarantee the integrity of onsite storage and the safety of our residents as we work night and day to get it off our beaches,” said Lawson-Remer. “So I think this is a great opportunity to join hands with others across our region who face a similar set of challenges.”
There are also 35 states battling similar issues, the Union Tribune reported.
The waste is buried about 100 feet from the shoreline, according to The Guardian, near one of the busiest highways and next to a fault line that could generate an earthquake. The Guardian reports the site could be exposed from erosion.
