\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about this problem for more than a decade,\u201d Desmond said after the board unanimously approved the measure on Dec. 9. \u201cWe can\u2019t keep waiting. It\u2019s time to turn this challenge into an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
What does reprocessing mean?<\/p>\n
The power generated by a commercial nuclear facility comes via the process of fission that splits uranium atoms within the core of a nuclear reactor. What\u2019s left in the fuel assemblies is called \u201cspent\u201d nuclear fuel, or waste, that is highly radioactive.<\/p>\n
Nearly 95% of spent fuel consists of uranium and 1% is made up of plutonium.<\/p>\n
Broadly speaking, reprocessing<\/a> refers to separating the unburned uranium and plutonium from the spent materials produced during fission reactions, enabling the reprocessed spent fuel to be used again. This results in a significant reduction in the amount of radioactive material that ends up going to a repository.<\/p>\n Though the leftover uranium and plutonium can be reused, the U.S. does not reprocess its spent fuel. That\u2019s because commonly used reprocessing methods produce a stream of separated plutonium that could make nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n Such fears of proliferation prompted President Jimmy Carter to issue what amounted to a national ban<\/a> on reprocessing in 1977. On the other hand, some other countries \u2014 most notably, France<\/a> \u2014 have reprocessed and recycled used fuel at its nuclear facilities for decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n A new day for nuclear?<\/p>\n With data centers increasingly hungry for electricity to power artificial intelligence applications, nuclear power is getting another look as a means to meet a predicted surge in power demand on the grid.<\/p>\n Nuclear supplies baseload power \u2014 and lots of it \u2014 without emitting any greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n A growing number of startups have jumped headlong into cutting-edge nuclear technology.<\/p>\n For example, one Silicon Valley-based company named Oklo<\/a> focuses on designing and deploying advanced fission power plants.<\/p>\n Among its projects, Oklo is working with the U.S. Department of Energy and the Argonne National Laboratory to build the first privately funded reprocessing facility<\/a> in Oak Ridge, Tenn.<\/p>\n Oklo is pursuing methods that would not create pure streams of plutonium and has plans to produce new fuel, using spent fuel, at commercial scale in the late 2020s or early 2030s.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Idaho National Laboratory<\/a> is conducting research on advanced fuels, reactors, microreactors and molten salt reactors<\/a>.<\/p>\n If these projects already plan to use spent nuclear fuel, Desmond\u2019s resolution calls on San Diego County to be on the lookout for opportunities for them to access at least some of the waste sitting around San Onofre. The measure specifically mentions seeking partnerships with one or more national labs.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a county, we should position ourselves to participate in this \u2018nuclear renaissance\u2019 and join in the growing demand to finally do something with the (spent fuel) sitting in perpetual limbo at sites throughout the country,\u201d Desmond said in a six-page report<\/a> submitted to the Board of Supervisors before the Dec. 9 vote.<\/p>\n For now, the resolution has no specific dollar figure attached to it.<\/p>\n It directs the county\u2019s chief administrative officer \u201cto explore opportunities\u201d and report back to the board in 90 days with results \u2014 including any costs or potential funding sources.<\/p>\n \u201cThe objective would be to move the (waste) to an off-site facility for research on advanced reprocessing techniques and its use in powering next generation\/advanced reactors,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n The Union-Tribune asked the Idaho National Laboratory about Desmond\u2019s proposal. A spokesperson for the lab said the Department of Energy would be better suited to answer questions, but DOE did not respond to emails.<\/p>\n However, Oklo\u2019s head of communications said, \u201cWe think the county\u2019s initiative is an important step toward moving beyond indefinite on-site storage and should be part of the broader national conversation about used fuel management.\u201d<\/p>\n Bonita Chester of Oklo went on to say in an email, \u201cThat said, we do not have any agreements in place related to recycling fuel from San Onofre today, and any such decision would need to be in collaboration with the federal government, the fuel owners and local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The Union-Tribune also reached out to Southern California Edison, the utility that operates SONGS, about the county\u2019s resolution.<\/p>\n \u201cWe appreciate the focus on the important issue of spent nuclear fuel, and we welcome thoughtful consideration of all reasonable, secure options for clearing San Onofre of spent fuel,\u201d SCE spokesperson Jeff Monford said. \u201cReprocessing certainly can be part of an effective solution, but in SCE\u2019s view all solutions should hold the federal government accountable to its obligations related to spent fuel storage and disposal.\u201d<\/p>\n Desmond is one of the members of the San Onofre Community Engagement Panel<\/a>, a group formed by SCE that acts as a liaison between the plant\u2019s co-owners and the public<\/a>. The panel holds meetings on topics that include the disposition of the nuclear waste at SONGS.<\/p>\n Across the country, roughly 91,000 metric tons<\/a> of spent fuel have stacked up at facilities in 35 states<\/a>.<\/p>\n For decades, Yucca Mountain in Nevada had been slated as a permanent site to hold the spent fuel.<\/p>\n But the Obama administration\u00a0cut off funding for Yucca in 2010<\/a>, following years of protests from lawmakers in the Silver State who had long opposed it. The project\u2019s costs came to at least $15 billion<\/a>\u00a0before getting shelved.<\/p>\n With Yucca off the table, federal officials have gone back to the drawing board, looking at potential sites to accept some or all of the country\u2019s commercial spent fuel, on an interim (still-to-be-determined number of years) or permanent basis.<\/p>\n Some in the nuclear business say the U.S. should establish an interim and final facility before tackling recycling.<\/p>\n Lots of questions and some skepticism<\/p>\n There\u2019s certainly no guarantee the San Diego County resolution would result in any proposed projects actually using spent fuel from SONGS \u2014 and even if some of the waste were to be tapped, it\u2019s not clear how much of a dent it would make in the 3.55 million pounds currently stored at San Onofre.<\/p>\n In addition, a host of questions would be raised about how the waste would be shipped and all the necessary permits, licensing and approvals that would need to be cleared.<\/p>\n On a broader level, some question whether reprocessing spent fuel is worth the effort and doubt whether advanced nuclear technologies will pan out.<\/p>\n The Washington Post reported<\/a> that test reactors in the U.S. and Great Britain have experienced cost overruns and engineering setbacks that have forced developers to push back target dates for their projects.<\/p>\n Notwithstanding the success in France, reprocessing facilities in Japan<\/a> and the U.K.<\/a> have gone way over budget. And while recycling reduces the amount of waste that\u2019s left over, it still leaves highly radioactive and long-lived material that must be safely handled and stored.<\/p>\n Others still worry about the specter of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n Ross Matzkin-Bridger, senior director of the Nuclear Materials Security Program at the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative<\/a>, called the momentum toward reprocessing \u201ca siren song\u201d in an article posted earlier this year by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe dream of turning waste into a valuable commodity has ignited the human imagination for centuries,\u201d wrote Matzkin-Bridger, who worked at the Department of Energy during the Biden administration. \u201cBut just as the alchemists of generations past were never able to turn their toils into a solution for changing lead into gold, real-world experience and science show that reprocessing doesn\u2019t live up to the hype.\u201d<\/p>\n Other details<\/p>\n At the request of Supervisor Paloma Aguirre<\/a>, the county\u2019s resolution included an amendment to formally support the Nuclear Waste Administration Act, proposed by Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-OKLO-RENDERING-1213-01.jpg\")
A rendering from advanced nuclear technology company Oklo for a fuel recycling facility in Tennessee. (Oklo)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-songs-demolition-006.jpg\")
The storage facilities holding canisters of nuclear waste at the north end of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station overlook the ocean. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n