San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning Project Begins

Monday, February 24, 2020

Above: Photo of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station taken on April 5, 2019.

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Southern California Edison, the plant's operator, said work on the eight-year decommissioning project got underway Monday.

Aired: February 24, 2020 | Transcript

After eight years of standing idle, the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant is coming down.

The plant's operator, Southern California Edison, said work on the project to dismantle the plant got underway Monday.

A small radioactive leak in a steam generator in 2012 caused the plant to be taken offline and ultimately shut down. The decommissioning process is expected to take eight years but it is not without controversy since storage of the plant's radioactive nuclear waste will remain on site until another location becomes available.

Ron Pontes, Edison’s decommissioning environmental manager, joined Midday Edition on Monday to discuss the decommissioning process.