SONGS Community Engagement Panel and Spent Fuel Solutions Coalition Joint Meeting to Focus on DOE Consent-Based Siting Initiative

ROSEMEAD, Calif., June 12, 2023 — The SONGS Community Engagement Panel (CEP) and Spent Fuel Solutions coalition will host a joint meeting on Thursday to receive an update from the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy on its consent-based siting initiative for federal spent nuclear fuel storage facilities. The June 15 hybrid meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. PDT at the Laguna Hills Community Center in Laguna Hills and online via Microsoft Teams video conference.

Natalia Saraeva, the DOE’s Consent-Based Siting Team Lead, will discuss the DOE’s recent award of $26 million for groups of university, nonprofit and private sector partners interested in learning more about consent-based siting, management of spent nuclear fuel and interim storage facility siting considerations The awards are part of a three-stage effort underway to establish one or more federal facilities to accept spent fuel in the next 10 to 15 years.

The Spent Fuel Solutions coalition, which is galvanizing local, regional and national support for federal solutions to the off-site storage and disposal of spent fuel, will also provide an update on recent activities, including a March 23 webinar on international best practices. Co-chaired by San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond and Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, the coalition has grown to more than 250 diverse members committed to the off-site relocation of spent nuclear fuel at SONGS.

Additionally, the panel will receive updates from Southern California Edison on the latest decommissioning work at the site, which is officially more than halfway finished. The current project is expected to be completed by the end of 2028 although SCE cannot fully complete the decommissioning effort and restore the site for other use until the spent fuel is removed.

Members of the public can view the meeting video conference by first visiting SONGScommunity.com, where a link to the Microsoft Teams meeting is provided, as well as register to participate in public comment.

When SCE announced the retirement of SONGS Units 2 and 3 in June 2013, it established the core principles of safety, stewardship and engagement to guide the decommissioning.

For more information about San Onofre, visit SONGScommunity.com and follow us on Twitter (@SCE_SONGS) and Facebook (@SONGScommunitypage) or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Join the Spent Fuel Solutions coalition by visiting its dedicated website.

About Southern California Edison

An Edison International (NYSE: EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of approximately 15 million via 5 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

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