Local Action and a Federal Solution for Spent Nuclear Fuel

Our philosophy on spent nuclear fuel is simple: Store it. Manage it. Move it.

Southern California Edison, along with the SONGS co-owners, launched an effort in 2017 to develop a framework for relocating the spent nuclear fuel now stored at SONGS to an offsite location.

Since then, we have been working closely with the U.S. Department of Energy and key stakeholders to move the effort forward.

The Federal Role

We can’t relocate the spent nuclear fuel at SONGS all alone, and that’s where the Federal government comes in.

Recently, the Federal Department of Energy has made significant progress in many aspects of spent fuel storage and transportation.

Learn more about Federal actions on spent nuclear fuel storage, disposal and transportation.


There is much work to be done. But we are guided by the work of thought-leaders and experts in the field, captured in a three-volume set of plans: the Action Plan, Strategic Plan and Conceptual Transportation Plan.

Currently, and until the spent fuel is relocated off site, it is securely stored in sealed stainless-steel canisters that are housed in reinforced concrete structures. SONGS has 123 such canisters.

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During a visit to SONGS in April 2022, Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm discusses the Federal government’s efforts regarding spent nuclear fuel storage and disposal. Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro (left) and Rep. Mike Levin look on.


Leaning In

SCE embraced the opportunity to thoroughly explore the options, alternatives, and roadblocks to relocating the spent fuel at SONGS to a licensed off-site facility, rather than continue waiting for the Federal government to deliver on its decades-overdue mandate to pick up and dispose of the fuel from commercial nuclear sites across the country.

To accomplish the task, SCE retained some of the leading experts in the country. This team, which included Tom Isaacs, former director, Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Waste Policy, and former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Allison Macfarlane, worked with SCE and North Wind, Inc. to support the assessment of offsite alternatives and author the plans. Stakeholders from the local community and region were interviewed as part of the process. The results are available below in the three volumes of documents.


Find out more about each plan below:

The Action Plan

The Action Plan lays out near-term measures SCE and the San Onofre co-owners will take to advance offsite relocation of the spent fuel, and to be prepared to move the fuel should an opportunity arise.

Learn more about the Action Plan

The Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan identifies and analyzes a range of alternatives for spent fuel removal while making clear the challenges and needed actions for those alternatives to be realized.

Review the Strategic Plan

The Conceptual Transportation Plan

The Conceptual Transportation Plan focuses on specific steps and strategic considerations in planning for and executing the shipment of spent fuel from San Onofre to an offsite location, assumed to be in the Southwestern U.S.

Explore the Conceptual Transportation Plan


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