A King tide at San Onofre
Gary Headrick
A King tide at San Onofre is causing additional damage to the front seawall adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
What happens when transparency meets a track record?
Southern California Edison (SCE) released a collection of 1749 photos of the infrastructure at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) at a seminar hosted by SCE's Community Engagement Panel in San Clemente, California, on October 16th, 2025. San Diego Union-Tribune journalist Rob Nikolewski quoted SCE Engineering Manager Jerry Stephenson as saying, "Our canisters are as dry as King Tut's tomb." Frederic Bailly, SCE V.P. and Chief Nuclear Officer, told audience members that the spent fuel waste doesn't need to be moved at all and that “it is safely stored now." Stephenson, an employee at SONGS since 1982, assured attendees that the condition of the canisters at SONGS will remain sufficient for years to come. He claimed that "many of the scratches [on the pictured canisters] are merely the width ‘of three sheets of copy paper.'” What about the other scratches?
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage
Diane Edmonds
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage
Diane Edmonds
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage
Diane Edmonds
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage
Diane Edmonds
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
Comforting reassurances are nice, but Southern California Edison has faced past criticism for their lack of transparency regarding the status of SONGS. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Southern California Edison has received at least eight notices of violation (NOVs) and one confirmatory order since 1997. Their most recent violation came in 2019 when "[Southern California Edison] failed to notify the NRC after" an employee unintentionally disabled critical safety equipment, "while lowering spent fuel canister 29 into the storage vault" on August 3, 2018. The failure was "not analyzed in the final safety analysis report," resulting in the additional violation.
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage
Diane Edmonds
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage
Diane Edmonds
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
In a 2015 article for KPBS, Investigative Reporter Anita Sharma wrote that in the nineteen months before a June 2006 meeting with the NRC, “Edison executives knew of a flaw in the new steam generator design.” According to Sharma, records show that the Edison team knew "steam too hot to handle, otherwise known as void fraction, was passing through the equipment," which could cause excessive tube wear. SONGS was famously decommissioned in June 2013 due to a radioactive leak caused by excessive tube wear.
View from Dog Patch of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS)
Diane Edmonds
View from Dog Patch of the nuclear waste canisters at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
View from Dog Patch of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS)
Diane Edmonds
View from Dog Patch of the nuclear waste canisters at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage
Diane Edmonds
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage
Diane Edmonds
San Onofre (SONGS) front seawall damage adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
Southern California Edison's hosting of Community Engagement Panels is an effort towards transparency. That's important, but it's essential to hold SCE accountable. Samuel Lawrence Foundation (SLF), the primary nonprofit group fighting for safe and permanent nuclear waste storage, contends that "true safety means independent testing, stronger containment, and moving this radioactive waste to higher ground." SLF President Bart Ziegler added that using phrases like “'Dry as King Tut's tomb’ may comfort shareholders, but it won’t protect our children." For SLF and Southern California residents alike, "this is not about fear. It's about facts, foresight, and responsibility."
For more information about the need to make solving the nuclear waste issue a top national priority, visit the Samuel Lawrence Foundation website, donate, get involved in your own community, and make your voice heard in Congress.
