page_title: San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
hierarchical_section_title: San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
caption_attribution_description: English: San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station 2013 photo D Ramey Logan
context_page_description: The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is a closed nuclear power plant located south of San Clemente, California, on the Pacific coast, in Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV. The plant was shut down in 2013 after replacement steam generators failed; it is currently in the process of decommissioning.
  The plant is owned by Southern California Edison. Edison International, parent of SCE, holds 78.2% ownership in the plant; San Diego Gas & Electric Company, 20%; and the City of Riverside Utilities Department, 1.8%. When fully functional, it employed over 2,200 people. Located between the ocean and Interstate 5, the station is a prominent landmark because of its twin hemispherical containment buildings, which were designed to contain any unexpected releases of radioactive material from the power generators.
  The plant's first unit, Unit 1, operated from 1968 to 1992. Unit 2 was started in 1983 and Unit 3 started in 1984.
context_section_description: The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is a closed nuclear power plant located south of San Clemente, California, on the Pacific coast, in Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV. The plant was shut down in 2013 after replacement steam generators failed; it is currently in the process of decommissioning.
  The plant is owned by Southern California Edison. Edison International, parent of SCE, holds 78.2% ownership in the plant; San Diego Gas & Electric Company, 20%; and the City of Riverside Utilities Department, 1.8%. When fully functional, it employed over 2,200 people.  Located between the ocean and Interstate 5, the station is a prominent landmark because of its twin hemispherical containment buildings, which were designed to contain any unexpected releases of radioactive material from the power generators.
  The plant's first unit, Unit 1, operated from 1968 to 1992. Unit 2 was started in 1983 and Unit 3 started in 1984. Upgrades designed to last 20 years were made to the reactor units in 2009 and 2010; however, both reactors were shut down in January 2012 after premature wear was found on more than 3,000 tubes in replacement steam generators that had been installed in 2010 and 2011. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently investigating the events that led to the closure. In May 2013, Senator Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the modifications had proved to be "unsafe and posed a danger to the eight million people living within 50 miles of the plant," and she called for a criminal investigation.
  In June 2013, Southern California Edison announced the permanent retirement of Unit 2 and Unit 3, citing "continuing uncertainty about when or if SONGS might return to service" and noting that ongoing regulatory and "administrative processes and appeals" would likely cause any tentative restart plans to be delayed for "more than a year". The company stated that "Full retirement of the units prior to decommissioning will take some years in accordance with customary practices. Actual decommissioning will take many years until completion." Controversy continues over Edison's plans for on-site dry cask storage of the considerable amount of nuclear waste created during the facility's decades of operation.
caption: The station as seen from the north.
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