San Onofre Lot Repairs Amid Olympic Spotlight
Diane Edmonds
The Old Man’s parking lot at San Onofre reopens after storm damage, just miles from where LA28 Olympic surfers will compete—raising questions about nearby nuclear waste storage and coastal vulnerability
The Olympics LA28 Organizing Committee has announced that Lower Trestles, the world-class surf break next to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, will host the surfing competition for the 2028 Olympics.
While this may be celebrated as a cultural win for Southern California, it raises urgent and unsettling questions. Just yards from where Olympians will compete, 3.6 million pounds of high-level radioactive waste sit in thin-walled, welded stainless steel canisters, buried near the shoreline, a few feet above the water table. These canisters were never designed for long-term storage, and cannot be opened, inspected, or repaired once sealed. The site is vulnerable to sea-level rise, earthquakes, and erosion–with no permanent disposal solution in place and no emergency evacuation plan for the surrounding region.
Surfing San Onofre in the Shadow of LA28
Diane Edmonds
Clean waves roll in the day after Christmas at San Onofre, the same waters chosen for LA28 surfing events. But just yards away, millions of pounds of nuclear waste remain stored in fragile coastal canisters.
Surfing San Onofre in the Shadow of LA28
Diane Edmonds
Clean waves roll in the day after Christmas at San Onofre, the same waters chosen for LA28 surfing events. But just yards away, millions of pounds of nuclear waste remain stored in fragile coastal canisters.
By placing a global sporting event in the shadow of this unresolved nuclear hazard, LA28 risks doing more than downplaying the danger, it normalizes it and removes fear from the public of the dangers of radiation. The visibility and celebration of this location could desensitize the public to the gravity of the situation, obscuring the reality that SONGS is one of the most precarious nuclear waste storage sites in the nation. We hope to have made strides in seeking permanent storage for the nuclear waste at San Onofre by 2028.
Storm Damage Exposes San Onofre’s Fragility
Diane Edmonds
Storm tides collapse the Old Man’s parking lot at San Onofre, underscoring coastal erosion risks where Olympic surfers will compete near the nation’s most precarious nuclear waste site."
Storm Damage Exposes San Onofre’s Fragility
Diane Edmonds
Storm tides collapse the Old Man’s parking lot at San Onofre, underscoring coastal erosion risks where Olympic surfers will compete near the nation’s most precarious nuclear waste site."
