Samuel Lawrence Foundation

Samuel Lawrence Foundation The Samuel Lawrence Foundation strives to promote human interaction and encourage broader community access to science, education, and the arts.

We focus on environmental issues, like the abandoned nuclear waste at the shutdown San Onofre power plant. The Samuel Lawrence Foundation strives to promote broader community access to science, education, and the arts. Whether advocating for the safer storage of nuclear waste, teaching about sustainable practices, or sponsoring climate events, the Samuel Lawrence Foundation is committed to building a more informed and engaged community.

08/26/2026

3.6 million pounds of spent nuclear fuel. 123 canisters. 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean. Within 50 miles of 9 million people.

In 1987, the federal government promised a permanent solution. It's 2026, and that waste hasn't moved.

This is San Onofre. This is why we held the Symposium on August 20, to bring scientists, policymakers, and our community together and start changing that story.

Full Symposium recap coming all week, and complete panel recordings will be up on YouTube soon.

Follow along. 📍
👉DM for Full Symposium link directly to you!

08/26/2026

Meet Dr. Michelle Perro.

Nearly 40 years as a pediatrician. Former ER Director at Metropolitan Hospital in NYC. Over a decade at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, Oakland. More than 15 years ago, she shifted her practice to focus on how pesticides and environmental toxicants affect children's health. She's co-author of What's Making Our Children Sick?, Executive Director of GMOScience, and author of the first Children's Environmental Health Bill of Rights.

At the San Onofre Symposium, Dr. Perro asked the question a lot of us aren't asking: what happens when a child's body is absorbing radiation, pesticides, electromagnetic frequencies, and PFAS all at once, not one at a time?

"Children are exposed to nuclear, and also pesticides, and also electromagnetic frequencies... in addition to PFAS and other toxicities. It overcomes their toxic load. That's what's driving the neurocognitive loss in children."

Cumulative exposure. Not one risk at a time, the total load. It's the kind of question that reframes the whole conversation, and exactly why we need pediatricians, health physicists, and scientists in the same room.

Watch the full exchange!

08/26/2026

"There are no winners. There's only losers."

At the San Onofre Symposium, Tina Cordova shared decades of hard-won knowledge with our community, standing at the intersection of two nuclear stories: the Trinity test's downwinders and the waste still sitting at San Onofre. Tina is the co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, a cancer survivor, and one of the fiercest advocates working today for the people harmed by America's nuclear legacy.

Her family carries four generations of cancer since 1945. Her testimony reminds us why getting this right at San Onofre matters, so no community here inherits what her community has lived with for eighty years.

Thank you, Tina, for trusting us with your story and for the work you do every single day. 🙏

Watch her full remarks in on our YouTube panel recording coming this week.
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08/25/2026

"Stay on this path, and we burden future generations with consequences they never asked for. Change course, and we give them a future we're actually proud of." Bart Ziegler, President, Samuel Lawrence Foundation, opening the San Onofre Symposium 🌊

Thirteen years ago, the power plant at San Onofre closed. The waste stored there? Hasn't moved an inch.

On August 20, we brought scientists, policymakers, and our community together to change that.

🙏Thank you to everyone who showed up, asked questions, and stayed the whole day!

This is just the start, more from the Symposium is coming all week, and we're excited to say the full panel recordings will be up on 💻YouTube soon so you can hear it all for yourself. 🎥

Follow along, join our newsletter📍https://vist.ly/5g5tc

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📻 Tune in this morning at 7:10 AM to hear our Nuclear Waste Policy Director Peter Jones on Newsradio 600 KOGO, talking a...
08/20/2026

📻 Tune in this morning at 7:10 AM to hear our Nuclear Waste Policy Director Peter Jones on Newsradio 600 KOGO, talking about today's San Onofre Symposium and why 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste sitting at San Onofre, with no permanent federal repository in sight, is still San Diego's problem.

Listen on AM 600, stream at kogo.iheart.com, or ask your smart speaker: "play Newsradio 600 KOGO."

Then join us at Scripps Seaside Forum today, 9 AM–4 PM, for the Symposium itself. 🌅

🏛️ Speaker Spotlight: Rep. Scott PetersSince 2012, Congressman Scott Peters has represented California's 50th Congressio...
08/15/2026

🏛️ Speaker Spotlight: Rep. Scott Peters

Since 2012, Congressman Scott Peters has represented California's 50th Congressional District, covering Coronado, San Marcos, Escondido and coastal San Diego. He serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Budget Committee, and has built a reputation for practical, bipartisan climate policy, understanding that the toughest problems rarely have partisan solutions.

At the Symposium: Rep. Peters joins our lineup of policymakers, scientists, and advocates working to hold accountable those responsible for the spent nuclear fuel stored at San Onofre. His work on energy and climate policy in Congress makes him a key voice in the conversation about what comes next for the 3.6 million pounds of waste sitting 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean.

San Onofre Symposium: Nuclear Waste to Clean Energy
August 20, 2026 | 9 AM–4 PM (lunch included)
Scripps Seaside Forum, La Jolla
Seats are limited. RSVP now!
https://vist.ly/5ex38

Speaker Announcement 🔋Cole Ashman is joining us at the San Onofre Symposium.Ashman is Founder and CEO of Pila Energy , ...
08/11/2026

Speaker Announcement 🔋

Cole Ashman is joining us at the San Onofre Symposium.

Ashman is Founder and CEO of Pila Energy , where he built the first plug-in mesh home battery. Pila plugs into a standard wall outlet, no electrician, permits, or installation required, and automatically keeps essential appliances running when the power goes out. It's accessible backup power for any home, including the millions of renters who've been locked out of traditional home energy storage.

Before founding Pila, Ashman helped build the Tesla Powerwall and led product at SPAN, work that redefined what home resilience could look like, but remained out of reach for most households. He founded Pila to close that gap, on the conviction that backup power shouldn't be a luxury reserved only for those who can afford whole-home systems.

Ashman grew up in New Orleans, where he experienced Hurricane Katrina and saw firsthand how outages disproportionately affect communities without access to reliable backup power. Today, Pila is shipping nationwide and has been recognized as a CES 2026 Innovation Awards Honoree and a Fast Company Next Big Thing in Tech.

At the Symposium, Ashman brings a founder's perspective on decentralized, accessible energy resilience, a different angle on what "clean energy" can mean for everyday households.

San Onofre Symposium: Nuclear Waste to Clean Energy
August 20, 2026 | 9 AM–4 PM (lunch included)
Scripps Seaside Forum, La Jolla
Seats are limited. RSVP now!
https://vist.ly/5ecun

Speaker Announcement 🏛️ Representative Mike Levin Representative Mike Levin is joining us at the San Onofre Symposium.Le...
08/10/2026

Speaker Announcement 🏛️ Representative Mike Levin Representative Mike Levin is joining us at the San Onofre Symposium.

Levin represents California's 49th Congressional District, which includes San Onofre itself. Since taking office in 2019, he's made spent nuclear fuel removal one of the defining issues of his tenure, convening a SONGS Task Force led by former NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko in his first months in Congress.

Levin introduced the INSPECT Act, requiring NRC resident inspectors during fuel transfer activities, following the 2018 canister mishandling incident at San Onofre. In 2021, he co-founded the bipartisan Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus, and in 2024 co-authored the Nuclear Waste Administration Act to establish an independent federal agency for nuclear waste management. As of early 2026, he has secured more than $248 million in federal funding for the safe removal and management of the nation's spent nuclear fuel.

At the Symposium, Levin brings the legislative perspective, direct insight into what's actually moving in Washington on the issue our community has waited nearly 40 years to see resolved.

San Onofre Symposium: Nuclear Waste to Clean Energy
August 20, 2026 | 9 AM–4 PM (lunch included)
Scripps Seaside Forum, La Jolla
Seats are limited. RSVP now!
https://vist.ly/5e9ix

08/07/2026

Nadia , our Director of Programs, has a personal invite for you: join us at the San Onofre Symposium, Thursday, August 20th, 9 AM to 4 PM at Scripps Seaside Forum!
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Our confirmed speaker lineup includes Rep. Mike Levin and Rep. Scott Peters, bringing a rare, direct perspective on what's next for nuclear waste legislation, alongside scientists, researchers, and energy experts discussing both a path forward for San Onofre's waste and how we meet our energy demands with cleaner sources like wind, water, solar, and batteries.
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The event will be recorded and posted online the following week, but being there in person means the chance to actually talk with these experts and elected officials face to face.
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San Onofre Symposium: Nuclear Waste to Clean Energy
August 20, 2026 | 9 AM–4 PM (lunch included)
Scripps Seaside Forum, La Jolla
Seats are limited. RSVP now! Link in bio!
https://vist.ly/5dymq

08/07/2026

Nadia, our Director of Programs, has a personal invite for you: join us at the San Onofre Symposium, Thursday, August 20th, 9 AM to 4 PM at Scripps Seaside Forum!

Our confirmed speaker lineup includes Rep. Mike Levin and Rep. Scott Peters, bringing a rare, direct perspective on what's next for nuclear waste legislation, alongside scientists, researchers, and energy experts discussing both a path forward for San Onofre's waste and how we meet our energy demands with cleaner sources like wind, water, solar, and batteries.

The event will be recorded and posted online the following week, but being there in person means the chance to actually talk with these experts and elected officials face to face.

San Onofre Symposium: Nuclear Waste to Clean Energy
August 20, 2026 | 9 AM–4 PM (lunch included)�
Scripps Seaside Forum, La Jolla
👉Seats are limited. RSVP now!
https://vist.ly/5dyms

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