SONGS: First Decommissioning Community Meeting Scheduled

An advisory board on the decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station will hold its first meeting with the public on March 25 in San Clemente, Southern California Edison announced today.

The Community Engagement Panel meeting will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the San Clemente Community Center, 100 N. Calle Seville, according to Edison, which is the plant's majority owner and operator. San Diego Gas & Electric owns 20 percent of the plant.

The panel was established to exchange information between the owners and the public throughout decommissioning process.

"Public engagement is essential to our goal to decommission San Onofre in a transparent and inclusive way," said Chris Thompson, SCE vice president of decommissioning.

SCE announced last June that it would retire the reactors instead of restarting them. The plant along the northern San Diego County shoreline has been idle since January 2012, when a small, non-injury leak was discovered.

The agenda for the first meeting of the panel, chaired by UC San Diego professor David Victor -- an expert on energy markets -- will include an overview of plans to dismantle the facility in 15 to 20 years, as well as a public comment period.

Members of the group represent the American Nuclear Society, California State Parks, Camp Pendleton, Capistrano Unified School District, Coalition to Decommission San Onofre, Ocean Institute, Orange County Coastkeeper, Orange County Sheriff's Department, organized labor, South Orange County Economic Coalition and the University of California, Irvine. Also represented are the counties of Orange and San Diego, and the cities of Dana Point, Oceanside, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.

The website www.songscommunity.com will provide updates on panel activities, along with information about its members and the decommissioning process, including Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversight. Members of the public can use the plant's website to sign up for regular e-mail updates about the decommissioning process.

--City News Service

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