Regular Meeting on Strategic Plan to Relocate SONGS Spent Nuclear Fuel Offsite

• Edison and its contractors have presented a major Strategic Plan to relocate SONGS spent fuel offsite. The Plan is comprehensive and highly granular on critical topics such as regulatory oversight, cost, liability, and practicality of the various alternatives. One volume of the report is an Action Plan that outlines the commitments from SCE for implementation.
  
  
• A key to success is consolidated interim storage. Making the most use of interim storage appears to require a substantial federal role, including the assumption of liability and provision or payment for transportation services. Absent a federal role there are too many lingering uncertainties on cost, liability and other critical matters. An interim storage approach will require, as well, a strategy for developing viable permanent disposal so that “interim” does not become seen as “permanent.”
  
  
• Spent fuel transportation is complex and expensive, but the challenges around transportation are manageable assuming the federal government creates a framework that makes interim storage viable—notably assumption of title and liability.
  
  
• Edison cannot go it alone and be effective in changing federal policy and strategy. The spent fuel challenge is political, not an engineering issue. Success will require allies.
  
  
• There is now a coalition to assist with moving forward. We need to look for windows of opportunity in Washington DC and leverage the coalition and advocacy to realize a path to success. We need to reach out to other utilities and communities in similar positions and build a larger and effective political alliance.

Representatives from North Wind and SCE discuss the Strategic Plan. County Supervisors Lisa Bartlett (Orange) and Jim Desmond (San Diego) present on a new coalition, Action for Spent Fuel Solutions Now, to urge the federal government to act on the issue of spent fuel storage and disposal.

Opening remarks and decommissioning progress presentation.

Public Comment and closing remarks.