Trip to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

Checking in and getting badges, vests, and safety glasses before the tour

By Camilo ‘25

On April 9, 2022, some of the Clean Energy Local Issues team, along with a few other interested students, visited the SONGS. The tour covered the methods used to extract the energy as efficiently as possible from the uranium, even including a model fuel assembly. It also extensively covered the safety measures that were employed in the formerly active reactor. These included the famous concrete shells often seen from the nearby freeway, as well as the fallback shutoff if the temperature rose to unsafe levels or other conditions were met. This trip gave a firsthand account of how energy, specifically nuclear energy, is and was generated in this country, and gave the students a firsthand account of some of the issues they are trying to help solve. 

9th, 10th, and 11th graders posing in front of the containment domes