Should Irvine look to take a lead in relocating and storing San Onofre’s 3.6 million pounds of radioactive waste?
The Irvine City Council is split.
Overlooking the coastline from its 84 acres on the northern edge of Camp Pendleton, just south of San Clemente, the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Plant has housed millions of pounds of spent nuclear fuel sealed in 123 stainless-steel canisters much longer than originally advertised.
The plant was decommissioned in 2013 after its steam generators were found to be faulty. The federal government vowed to find a permanent resting place for the byproduct, but as of 2025, no nuclear waste has been picked up for permanent disposal.
The waste remains just 25 minutes away from Irvine and within 50 miles for about 8 million people. There is interest in moving the storage to higher ground on Camp Pendleton, on the east side of the 5 Freeway, while it waits for the federal government.
In late September, Mayor Larry Agran convened the City Council for a special study session on the delay in removing the waste, suggesting “Plan B” of a local solution be considered, including maybe Irvine playing a role.
This week, Irvine leaders had an official discussion on what the council thought the city should do.
And a majority decided the city will join the Spent Fuel Solutions Coalition — a group of local governments, elected officials and organizations who support the relocation of the San Onofre plant’s nuclear waste to a federally licensed off-site facility. But at least Agran and Councilmember Mike Carroll argued the city should do more and play a starring role in efforts.
“I’m very concerned about the spent fuel being stored where it is right now,” said Councilmember Kathleen Treseder, who pushed for joining the coalition.
Treseder said as part of Congressman Mike Levin’s Spent Nuclear Fuel Task Force, “I’ve really learned a lot.”
“There are so many experts on that task force … a lot of engineers, community leaders, a lot of grassroots leaders,” she said. “I want to make sure that Irvine supports their efforts.”
But, she said she isn’t going “to support any funding coming from the city for moving the spent nuclear fuel. That could be astronomical in cost.”
“There are already funds that are allocated for doing this,” she said. “Again, I just want to be working with the folks who are already there.”
Agran pushed for the creation of a city-led team of experts to plan the relocation of San Onofre’s spent nuclear fuel. He brought that idea to this week’s council meeting and support from his colleagues would have directed staff to come back in February with names for that team, a timeline and a financial game plan for removing the waste.
“We absolutely want to work with these other organizations,” Agran said. “We have the ability, however, to do some unique things here.”
Other councilmembers echoed Treseder’s financial concerns.
“I have to ask myself, will this make life better for Irvine families? Does this improve our safety services or neighborhoods? Also, is this something that Irvine residents have asked for?” Councilmember James Mai said.
“We can be supportive of this,” he said. “But I don’t believe in spending an enormous amount of money, any sort of money, on it.”
Councilmembers also vowed to help recruit members of Congress to join the bipartisan Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus, to take an active role on that Spent Nuclear Fuel Task Force and to later pass a resolution supporting safe removal of spent nuclear fuel.
