At 12:36 PM yesterday, Sunday,December 7th, the United States Geological Survey(USGS) reported that a 3.3 earthquake occurred only 2.7 miles away from the San Onofre nuclear waste dump. The facility, located at the site of the failed San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), is home to more than 3.6 million pounds of deadly, radioactive “spent” nuclear fuel, or SNF placed in 73 (seventy-three) ‘scratched and damaged’ canisters.
The earthquake at San Onofre comes at a time when earthquake activity appears to be active globally. Today, Japan reported a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake that resulted in hazardous wave forecasts as far away as Honolulu. According to Public Watchdogs’ Director of Development, Nina Babiarz, “The nuclear waste inside each one of these cheaply-made, 5/8” thin-walled stainless steel canisters at San Onofre is radioactive and deadly for at least 250,000 years to all Life.”
The canisters that store the waste at San Onofre are located 108 feet from the beach in 72 steel-reinforced concrete silos located in a large concrete slab called an “Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). Although the nuclear waste is eternally lethal, the canisters that hold it are only warranted against defects in workmanship for ten years (get the warranty).
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| Map of Southern California Earthquake Faults |
Public Watchdogs’ executive director, Charles Langley, reminded us that yesterday’s earthquake is a grim reminder that disaster could strike at any moment of any day according to the California Earthquake Authority at the San Onofre nuclear waste dump because the site is located on an earthquake fault line.
In 2017, Public Watchdogs announced that it had published a report questioning the credibility a $12 million earthquake risk study that was funded by Southern California Edison, the majority owner of the failed San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Public Watchdogs’ report, titled “Earthquake Bay, An evaluation of Geological Risks for Nuclear Waste Hazards,” explains why a nuclear release at the beachfront San Onofre nuclear waste dump is inevitable.
