Samuel Lawrence Foundation

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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.

What does it mean to make decisions for the next seven generations?This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we are grateful to John...
10/12/2026

What does it mean to make decisions for the next seven generations?

This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we are grateful to Johnny Bear Contreras, sculptor, storyteller, and member of the San Pasqual Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, who joined us during San Diego Climate Week.

Bart Ziegler opened by asking everyone in the room to introduce themselves in ten words. Tribal members from several nations, oceanographers, artists, engineers, and students shared their backgrounds. Johnny Bear named what this vocal sharing creates: “It’s not about being impressed. It’s about being engaged.”

His sculpture does the same work. Stargazer, part of the Living Land Acknowledgment at SDSU, rests with eyes closed, seeing the land as it was, as it is, and as it will always be.

Thank you, Johnny Bear, for bringing this community together and for standing with us. 🌊☀️

👉 Check out Johnny Bear Contreras artwork here: https://vist.ly/5n4yd

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10/08/2026

TONIGHT 10/8: Who gets a say in where nuclear waste goes?

Join us for Science on Tap with Johnny Bear Contreras (Kumeyaay, San Pasqual Band), cultural bearer, sculptor, and founder of the Eyaay Ahuun Foundation, on what tribal consent means for San Onofre.

🗓️ Tonight, Thursday, October 8, 6:00–8:00 PM
📍 Tower 13, 2633 S Coast Hwy 101, Cardiff
🎟️ $10, open to the public, food included! 🌮

Part of San Diego Climate Week. Grab a drink, bring a friend!

Register now, link in bio. 📍

One storm away.🌊NOAA gives an 83% chance that this El Niño becomes the strongest on record since 1950. Here is what it t...
10/08/2026

One storm away.🌊

NOAA gives an 83% chance that this El Niño becomes the strongest on record since 1950. Here is what it takes to flood the San Diego coast, and how close we already are.

1️⃣ Sea level is already higher. At NOAA’s La Jolla tide gauge, the ocean is 5 inches above normal, as high as the 1983 El Niño peak. This is happening now.

2️⃣ King tides are on the calendar. The highest tides of the winter arrive November 25, 2026, December 24, 2026 (7.10 ft), and January 22, 2027. NOAA’s tide predictions don’t include El Niño’s boost.

3️⃣ A storm hits at the same time. Surge and big waves on top of high water caused the damage in 1983. Storms can only be forecast days ahead.

When all three line up, the coast floods. Two are already here.

San Onofre holds 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste, 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean. SLF will be watching how this winter affects San Onofre.

👉Sign up for our newsletter for updates. https://vist.ly/5mk9b

Sources: NOAA La Jolla tide gauge 9410230, monthly sea level and tide predictions (MLLW)

What should California count before it considers new nuclear plants?☢️On September 30, Governor Newsom signed AB 2647. T...
10/07/2026

What should California count before it considers new nuclear plants?☢️

On September 30, Governor Newsom signed AB 2647. The bill began as an attempt to exempt advanced reactors from California's 50-year moratorium on new nuclear plants. It did not pass that way. What became law is a study.

The California Energy Commission has until January 1, 2028 to assess whether new nuclear plants could help meet the state's electricity needs. The moratorium stays in place.

That moratorium was written in 1976 because the country had no permanent place to put high-level nuclear waste. It still doesn't.

At San Onofre, 3.6 million pounds of spent nuclear fuel sit in 123 canisters, 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean.

The new law requires the Commission to weigh what spent fuel costs ratepayers and taxpayers: onsite, interim, and long-term storage. SLF was among the organizations that opposed the bill as written.

📝A study this consequential has to be rigorous and neutral, and we will be following every step.

👉Want to know when public comment opens? Join our newsletter, link in bio. 📍

Hey San Diego, did you hear that? ☀️We did. So here is our answer: we love you. ❤️This coast is home, and looking after ...
10/06/2026

Hey San Diego, did you hear that? ☀️

We did. So here is our answer: we love you. ❤️

This coast is home, and looking after it is what we do. 🌊

Want the local news that matters for our coastline?

👉Join our SLF newsletter.
https://vist.ly/5ma2e
Share with friends! 🫶

10/02/2026

What happens when the ocean rises a foot at San Onofre?

A Kelvin wave is arriving off Southern California right now. It is not a wave you can see. It is a massive, slow pulse of warm water set off by El Niño, and scientists say each one can raise coastal sea levels by 6 to 12 inches.

It will not be the last. An El Niño usually sends five or six of these waves up the coast, and the largest tend to arrive in winter.

Now add this winter's highest tides, expected around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Add storm surge. California declared a state of emergency on September 21 to prepare.

At San Onofre, 3.6 million pounds of spent nuclear fuel sit in 123 thin-wall canisters, 100 feet from the Pacific.

👉We are tracking how this El Niño affects the San Onofre coastline, and we need your help. Do you have photos from the 1982-83 El Niño storms?

👉Send them to [email protected] and tell us in the comments how those storms affected you.

Sources: NOAA Fisheries, Office of the Governor of California, Dillon Amaya (North Carolina State University), The Guardian.

Do you remember the winter of 1983? That El Niño sent storm after storm into the California coast. Piers broke apart, ho...
10/02/2026

Do you remember the winter of 1983?

That El Niño sent storm after storm into the California coast. Piers broke apart, homes flooded, and the Scripps Pier in La Jolla was damaged so badly it had to be replaced. Forecasters say a strong El Niño is developing for this winter.

We are following what it could mean for the coastline at San Onofre, where 3.6 million pounds of radioactive nuclear waste sits 100 feet from the ocean.

👉We need your help. 📸 Do you have photos from the 1982-83 El Niño in San Diego or Orange County?

👉Email them to [email protected] and tell us where and when they were taken.

We would love to add them to our research. No photos?

Tell us in the comments how those storms affected you.

How long can 3.6 million pounds of radioactive nuclear waste stay on an eroding coastline?That is the question the Samue...
09/30/2026

How long can 3.6 million pounds of radioactive nuclear waste stay on an eroding coastline?

That is the question the Samuel Lawrence Foundation put at the center of the San Onofre Symposium: Nuclear Waste to Clean Energy, convened by SLF President Bart Ziegler, PhD, at the Scripps Seaside Forum in La Jolla. Scientists, former regulators, members of Congress, and community leaders spent the day on it, and the Los Angeles Times came to report.

"13 years ago, the power plant closed, but the waste stored there hasn't moved an inch," Dr. Ziegler told the room. "Not with fear and loathing, not with jargon, but with practical, achievable solutions."

Now the Los Angeles Times, reporting by Blanca Begert, revisits that question after recent storm waves struck the Southern California coast. At San Onofre, 123 thin-wall canisters of spent fuel sit 100 feet from the Pacific, feet from the 5 freeway, with roughly 9 million people living within 50 miles.

The story draws on testimonies from the Symposium. Former NRC Chair Gregory Jaczko said San Onofre is not unique in having orphaned waste, "but it is unique in the hazards that that orphan waste presents."

Rep. Mike Levin, whose district includes San Onofre, called the combination of population, earthquake faults, rising seas, and a major military base next door "an untenable situation."

The story has now reached Congress. On September 23, Rep. Scott Peters held up the Los Angeles Times article at a House Energy hearing on nuclear lifecycle innovation campuses and entered it into the Congressional Record. "Experts agree that the nuclear waste stored at San Onofre is stored safely," he said. "However, it was never meant to be there in perpetuity. So we need to get moving. We need to get this right." He then pressed the Department of Energy to commit to prioritizing waste from shut-down plants in high-risk areas like San Onofre.

In a separate Senate hearing on nuclear waste policy, Sen. Ed Markey noted that taxpayers are spending $2 million every day on the federal government's failure to find a solution.

Southern California Edison maintains its storage system is robust for decades. The open question is what happens after that. Congress promised a permanent repository in 1987, and the waste has not moved. The realistic congressional timeline for removal is 2035 to 2040, but only with sustained pressure.

👉Read the full story: https://vist.ly/5khfn

https://vist.ly/5khfw

09/29/2026

💰"More than $100 million more" Every Year: The Cost of Having No Plan for Nuclear Waste ☢️

"Because of the federal government's failure to remove this waste, our companies have collectively recovered approximately $2.25 billion in damages from the taxpayer financed Judgment Fund."

Jared Derosier, Vice President of Public, Government and Regulatory Affairs and Deputy General Counsel, the Yankee Companies

Jared Derosier testified on behalf of the Decommissioning Plant Coalition before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy at its hearing, "Nuclear Spent Fuel Policy: Examining Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses," on September 23, 2026.

The coalition represents nuclear plants that have shut down but are still storing spent fuel because the federal government never took it away. Under federal law, the Department of Energy was supposed to begin removing that fuel in 1998. Every year it doesn't, taxpayers pay.
"For every year going forward that the federal government fails to perform, the DPC members will incur more than $100 million more of additional taxpayer financed damages."

San Onofre shut down in 2013. Its reactors are coming down, but 3.6 million pounds of spent nuclear fuel remain about 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean, with roughly 9 million people living within 50 miles.

Every day the waste stays there, the cost of federal inaction keeps growing. The Samuel Lawrence Foundation is working to move San Onofre's waste off the coast and hold decision makers to their promises.

✍️ Share comments below!

📩 Stay informed. Sign up for the Samuel Lawrence Foundation newsletter: https://vist.ly/5k8ud

09/28/2026

San Onofre Enters the Congressional Record: Rep. Peters Presses DOE to Move the Waste

At the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy hearing, "Nuclear Spent Fuel Policy: Examining Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses," on [DATE], Representative Scott Peters (D-CA-50) entered Blanca's article into the congressional record. It was ordered without objection.

"Experts agree that the nuclear waste stored at San Onofre is stored safely. However, it was never meant to be there in perpetuity. So we need to get moving."

Rep. Peters then asked Theodore J. Garrish, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, to commit to prioritizing waste at "shut down plants in high risk areas like San Onofre." Assistant Secretary Garrish did not commit to putting San Onofre first. He said DOE would set the order through a combination of factors, starting with the waste that is easiest to reprocess while also taking into account waste at shut down plants.

This is what happens when experts, reporters and communities come together.

Thank you to Los Angeles Times staff writer Blanca Begert, who attended The San Onofre Symposium: Nuclear Waste to Clean Energy, hosted by the Samuel Lawrence Foundation at the Scripps Seaside Forum in La Jolla. Her reporting, "As the coast begins to crumble, the clock ticks on moving San Onofre's radioactive waste," helped carry the San Onofre story from our Symposium to the halls of Congress.

Weeks later, San Onofre was named on the record in Washington.

At San Onofre, 3.6 million pounds of spent nuclear fuel sits about 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean, with roughly 9 million people living within 50 miles. The Samuel Lawrence Foundation will keep pushing until San Onofre moves to the front of the line.

📩 Stay informed. Sign up for the Samuel Lawrence Foundation newsletter: https://vist.ly/5k8g8

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