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January 17, 2024
No Time to Waste!
Get nuclear waste moved to higher ground NOW, before it is too late.

The latest King Tide makes it
more imperative than ever.
It was a cold and stormy morning when I was asked by the Coalition for Nuclear Safety to meet with photographer, (@MarkMennie), at San Onofre to show him the effects of the King Tide on our nuclear power plant. We met at the dark and deserted surfing beach, making our way to the tsunami wall while the churning waves ate away at what little trail was left perched above the ominous ocean. We discovered a section had collapsed before we returned from the shoot, but by then the tide had begun to recede and we were able to make a run for it in the wet sand, with expensive camera equipment and all. 
Photo credit: Diane Edmonds
As it turned out, the photographer needed a person in the shots to give it scale, so I obliged. We were both drawn towards the action, getting closer and closer to the waves topping the shorter sea wall along the concrete pathway. We protected the gear as we approached, only to get soaked ourselves as the tide and swell reached their peak. Jack hammers were hammering as decommissioning started up for the day, and the sound of waves crashing made for what seemed like a dramatic confrontation between man and nature.
The tsunami wall has not aged well, and the elements have taken their toll. A pathetic patch job to repair the wall made me stop and think, is this anything like the patch job that Edison intends to employ when a crack develops in the 5/8-inch thin steel canisters, each holding more radioactive waste than was released in the Chernobyl accident?
What really struck me was just how much higher the ocean has risen since I did a similar shoot in 2019. The empirical evidence can’t be denied. Water that is as high as the pathway now, means that the bottoms of the canisters just a hundred feet away are three to four feet below sea level at high tide. How much longer will it take before corrosive saltwater finds its way through metal and concrete, the way it has eroded the tsunami wall? 
This is truly a race against time, but many potential victims remain unaware of the threat. In approving the coastal permit, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) put in a condition that requires Edison to evaluate sea level rise in 2035. We are asking the CCC to take the initiative and request an analysis for conditions that may require moving Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) to higher ground. The time has come, sooner than expected and we can't afford to wait for another decade or more to pass. The planning must begin now. You can help by signing our petition here, which is already well underway. We can't wait until 2035 to re-evaluate sea level rise, as the permit currently is written.

The CalSafe Nuclear Waste Storage Plan Act
needs our support.

Please also sign our petition for urgent state legislation to give Californians more say over how nuclear waste is to be stored while it remains stranded here for a very uncertain number of decades. The canisters were only intended to last for twenty years in temporary storage until they could be shipped to Yucca Mountain, Nevada, which has been abandoned before completion due to water infiltration primarily.

Some canisters have already been in service for 17 years. Edison estimates thirty years is the most optimistic target to get it moved to a temporary site, which is being met with all kinds of resistance by those being put at great risk in places like Texas and New Mexico.

Your support will help us garner more co-sponsors for the bill being finalized now. I will share it with you as soon as it is available. Its purpose is to require the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to develop a plan to build a hot cell and robust storage facility on higher ground.

Preemption by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not applicable because the OPR is only fulfilling its duty to make a plan. They are required to develop and maintain radiological emergency preparedness and response plans. Without a spent fuel pool, there is no plan. It is all being left to chance and that is unacceptable.



A quick update on the newly released award winning documentary, “SOS -The San Onofre Syndrome – Nuclear Power’s Legacy”. The good news is that it is picking up momentum as it tours the country in film festivals and local screenings. Of course, we are anxious for it to go mainstream, but in the meantime, we are trying our best to get it to people who really want to see it. I can set up zoom meetings for groups of any size for as long as the movie plays and still have time for Q&A. Just send a request to gary@sanclementegreen.org. I’m also hoping we can make it available to watch at your convenience for a week or so. We’ll let you know when that happens!

Thanks for staying informed and involved in this issue. If ever we’ve needed your support to continue our volunteer work, it is now. Please consider making a recurring donation to make us all the more effective. We’ll do our best with whatever you can afford to give us, one time or continuously.

YOU are “the wind beneath our wings”
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