San Onofre’s famous twin domes will be demolished…
What a pair.
Southern California will soon bid farewell to the notorious “nuclear boobs” that have towered over Interstate 5 for many years.
The two huge twin domes at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) are set to be demolished by the end of the 12 months as half of a yearslong course of to take away nuclear waste from the shuttered nuclear plant.
The notorious “nuclear boobs” along Southern California’s Interstate 5 will be demolished by the end of 2027. Getty Images
Fifty-two of the plant’s 62 buildings have already been demolished, and more than 700 million kilos of radioactive materials have been eliminated from the location, leaving around 3.6 million kilos to go. Full decommissioning of the plant is anticipated by 2028, according to US Rep. Mike Levin.
“When I convened the SONGS Task Force in 2019, there was no clear path to move nuclear waste off our coastline. Today, we can point to real progress at San Onofre and growing momentum at the federal level,” Levin said in a press release.
The senator says more than 1,600 tons of spent nuclear fuel still sit at the location, which sits between Orange and San Diego Counties, just 100 toes from the Pacific Ocean.
“We cannot mistake progress for a permanent solution. I will keep working across party lines to secure the funding, reforms, and safe storage and disposal options needed to finally get this waste off our coast.”
The two domes had been constructed in 1983 and 1984, before being decommissioned in 2013.
The San Onofre breast-shaped domes have been out of commission since 2013. ZUMAPRESS.com
Though the plant has been shuttered for over a decade, Californians are already mourning the loss of the beloved boobs.
“Losing a piece of my childhood. Well, two I guess,” one Redditor joked.
“Should have kept them and paint them as an art piece to be seen by aircraft flying by like Hollywood sign,” another wrote.
“We called them the Dolly Parton buildings while driving down the 5 fwy as kids. It’s only fitting that they start to come down,” a third remarked.
Officials have raised issues that nuclear materials in the plant might pose an environmental risk to the world. Getty Images
The “boobs” have turn out to be a local legend, referenced in movie and music. AFP via Getty Images
The domes have turn out to be popular culture icons, often referred to as “Dolly Parton” by locals. They had been immortalized in the 1986 Descendents track “Kids” with the lyrics, “Went driving down to San Diego/ Passing up the nuclear tits,” as effectively as in the 1988 movie, “The Naked Gun.”
The push to tear down the domes comes as activists and officers have raised issues about the plant doubtlessly leaking radiation in the world.
“For too long, our communities have lived with the uncertainty of storing spent nuclear fuel along our coastline without a permanent solution in place,” Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said in October. “With rising sea levels, coastal erosion and seismic risks, we cannot afford to let this issue languish.”
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