California’s Crumbling San Onofre Nuclear Plant Finally Closes for Good

In a huge victory for both clean energy and environmental advocates, the Edison Power Company announced on Friday that its troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant will be permanently shuttered.

The crippled, aging facility is nestled on Southern California’s coast, and has already been out of commission for over a year, after some of the station’s newly replaced steam generator tubes were found to be leaking clouds of radiation into the atmosphere. It had also been discovered that hundreds of the nuclear plant’s new tubes were inexplicably corroding and wearing out at an unusually fast rate.

Solar Energy Now Cheaper than Nuclear

The costs of maintaining the crumbling nuclear facility proved to be too much, and Edison has decided to cut its losses. This largely economic decision is not surprising, considering that for several years the cost of solar energy has already become far cheaper to produce than nuclear power — and that does not even include the enormous future expenses associated with “safely” storing tons of spent radioactive nuclear waste.

I grew up not far from the San Onofre nuclear site; the plant’s menacing concrete twin domes are situated just a few miles from my mother’s home. In fact, less than two years ago we were also witness to a massive nearly 2-day international power blackout that was related to the dysfunctional nuclear facility. I must confess that I am completely thrilled and relieved that this treacherous radioactive ticking time bomb is finally going to be closed for good.