Transporting Spent Nuclear Fuel a Key Topic at March 19 Community Engagement Panel Meeting

ROSEMEAD, Calif., March 12, 2026 — The focus of the next public meeting of the SONGS Community Engagement Panel will be transportation of spent nuclear fuel. Dr. Erica Bickford, director for the Office of Storage & Transportation within the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, will provide an update on the DOE’s High Burnup Research Cask project as it prepares to transport a cask from Virginia to Idaho National Laboratory in 2027. Dr. Bickford will discuss the research project’s status, including route preparations, specialty railcars and coordination with tribal, state and federal partners on shipment planning and emergency preparedness training.

SCE staff will also provide an update on liquid batch releases of cleaned up water before transitioning to a public comment period. Additional updates regarding Spent Fuel Solutions coalition activities and SONGS’ demolition progress can be found in the read-only section of the presentation.

The virtual meeting will begin at 2 p.m. (PT) via Microsoft Teams video conference. Members of the public can view the video conference by visiting SONGScommunity.com, where they will find a link to the Microsoft Teams meeting and can register to participate in an hourlong public comment period.

In June 2013, when SCE announced the retirement of SONGS Units 2 and 3, the company established the core principles of safety, stewardship and community engagement to guide the decommissioning. For more information, visit SONGScommunity.com, the Facebook page (@SONGScommunitypage) or subscribe to the YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/SONGScommunity). To learn more about efforts to clear San Onofre of spent fuel, visit Spent Fuel Solutions (spentfuelsolutionsnow.com) and join the coalition.

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.