NWSC Commends Southern California Edison Formation of Local Coalition to Advocate for Federal Solutions on Nuclear Waste
March 15, 2021 – Recognizing the issuance of Southern California Edison’s Strategic Plan for Relocating San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Spent Nuclear Fuel, the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC or Coalition)[i] issued the following statement:
“The NWSC welcomes Southern California Edison’s formation of a local coalition to advocate for a solution to the spent nuclear fuel storage and disposal issue,” NWSC Chair Katie Sieben stated today. She added, “It has been over a decade since this nation has had a national nuclear waste program, and it is past time for federal government action to meet its obligation under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to remove the spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste that has been long stranded at shutdown and operating reactor sites. The NWSC looks forward to working with the new coalition in support of reestablishing an integrated national nuclear waste program and applying the billions of dollars paid by electric customers across the nation into the Nuclear Waste Fund to be used for their intended purpose—to remove the commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from commercial reactor sites.”
[i] The Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition is an ad hoc organization representing the collective interests of member state utility regulators, consumer advocates, attorneys general, and radiation control officials; tribal governments; local governments; electric utilities with operating and/or shutdown nuclear reactors; and other experts on nuclear waste policy matters. For over two decades, we have called for the Department of Energy to remove and ultimately dispose of commercial nuclear waste in accordance with federal law and contracts with electric utilities.
