San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is an unlikely south county landmark.
Ah, the «nuclear ta ta’s» as Irvine youth referred to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (or SONGS as San Clem locals call it)… What a fun reminder of America’s past and current fascination for cheap power. This curiously shaped installation really juxtaposes with the natural beauty surrounding it and it has been the joke fodder for boys and men traversing the 5 freeway since its inception during the nuclear crazed ’60’s. Since being slated for decommission in 2013, it is now reduced to a hulking eye sore a la Tustin’s world war 2 era hanger facing Irvine.
SONGS has had a pretty rough go of it these last 4 decades starting with a situation when a 420-​ton nuclear-​reactor vessel was installed… backwards. Since then it seemed the cursed «ta ta’s» have been plagued with both human and maintenance issues almost bi-​yearly. From deliberate staff sabotage to «small» nuclear leaks, SONGS has run the gamut. SoCal Edison dumped over $ 670 million into repairing the reactors around 2010 and sadly the equipment they purchased from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries proved to be junk. Since then SONGS was doomed to the fate of the do do bird.
There are a lot of differing opinions about SONGS both locally and regionally since nobody is happy about the cost of the $ 670 million dollar bandaid that leaked or the prospect of any trouble whatsoever from an aging nuclear facility within a 50 mile radius of 8.5 million people. Or its 4,000 tons of stored radioactive waste.
Those that appreciate the aesthetic of this industrial monolith have little to worry about as the decommissioning of a reactor facility can take several decades so we will have nuclear boobies jokes for generations to come.

Although this place is temporarily shut down. It’s a great landmark to pass by when you’re on your way to Disneyland. Beautiful views of the ocean.

Neucliar boobs are awesome. I get excited when i see them erect by the cold sea. Theyre so perky and smooth looking. My wife gets mad at me when i stare for a long time.

Nuclear boobies! Yes, I’m sure many of you have checked in here numerous times when you passed by either on your way back to SD or up to OC/​LA.
If you’ve missed it all these years, shame on you (how can you miss those bright red flashing nipples during your evening drive?)

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, or SONGS as I affectionately know it as and call it by, is a formerly active nuclear power plant that’s been officially shut down since 2013 and in the process of being decommissioned. You get a pretty good view of Units 2 and 3 (aka the metal boobies) off the 5 freeway, but that’s just the tip (excuse the unintended pun =p) of the entire power plant area. To see the rest, all you have to do is sign up for a free tour! Yes, free!
Free public walking tours (sign up at
) are available on certain Wednesdays and Saturdays. It’s a nice two hour outdoor tour of the facilities and you learn quite a bit of the SONGS history, how nuclear power works, and what the future holds for this place. I visited on a Saturday morning in April and toured the place with other interested people, mostly made up of people in the neighboring communities and from the military base nearby.
Tours are led by extremely knowledgeable former and current SONGS personnel. Learned tidbits about on-​site security (crazy cool testing days with former military trying to break in and security getting them with the laser tag guns), spent fuel storage, and steam generation. Also got a photo op in front of Units 2 and 3. You don’t come across too many nuclear power plants anymore so this is a very unique trip. Take a tour before everything is dismantled by 2030.

We cannot escape radiation: it’s in the air because of cell towers, phones, Wi-​Fi you name it.
However when San Diego has a major blackout, we will be wishing that san onofre was still actively online to provide us with some back up power.

I bet a man was the architect …
Or a plastic surgeon conspired on this design, hoping to make women feel inadequate …
Either way, gets 5 stars just for making me giggle driving to and from San Diego!
:D

Dear Sir or Madame,
There’s nothing that makes you more excited to drive back to LA than seeing a funny building like this. 5 stars FTB. Boobs.

I grew up in Western NY around Niagara and Buffalo. Manufacturing thrived, thanks to cheap power from the Falls. At shift change, thousands of working men walked in, and thousands walked out. I dreamed of being one of those men some day, carrying my dinner bucket home after a hard day’s work. Today all those plants are gone, along with the jobs, families, vendors, communities, and lives. Though the reasons are different, this power plant suffered the same fate.
I have no doubt nuclear power is safe. And we need to use less Middle East oil. I guess San Onofre won’t be around to see that happen. Very sad.

The engineers totally knew what they were doing. #chesticles

¹⁄₅ because you can look but can’t touch. Nice view though.

I have always been a bit iffy about this infamous landmark facility. I have travel up and down the 5 freeway numerous times ever since I was a boy, and has always been fascinated by the structure. Yes, during the childhood days… I always thought it was so cool just seeing it because it’s so round! Of course during the teenage years, my perverted mind… along with some of my full of testosterone males buddies see’s it as a female milk gland with a nice red blinking light on top… I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. And as the years passed, I started reading more about it and listening to the news about the incidents that happens around the facility.
These buildings is home to a U.S. Nuclear Facility. Even though the reactor’s concrete walls are suppose to be five feet thick, I wonder how safe the place really is.
Dating back to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in April of 1986, to the recent Japanese earthquake/​tsunami disaster of Fukushima in March of 2011, there is too much risk involved in these facilities.
Not to be political, I’m kind of glad that this nuclear generating station is presently closed because of a possible leak.
Going back to it’s landmark. This place brings back a lot of memories when we use to drive down to San Diego. It is located approximately thirty minutes north of the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. This facility is heavily guarded by security after 9 – 11. The area surrounding San Onofre is so beautiful! It’s natural habitat has barely been developed, and it’s virgin land consist of hills overseeing the coastal beaches with spectacular views. The beaches which are off limits would be ideal for surfers challenging the southern waves and it’s a dream come true for a resortist.
In all respect, this is a government facility. I just hope all the hazards are properly taken care of by the officials.
No stars for it being a nuclear facility, but five stars for it’s pristine land. So three stars to be fair!

It’s CLOSED! I was one of the many activists who fought to shut down San O and couldn’t be more stoked for our victory! Now we just have to wait 100 years or so until all the radiation is gone! The way I see it being closed is the best possible outcome for this place so they get full stars to honor the many lives this will be saving by being closed!

I love me some San-​O Tee-​Tees… You know your home and it’s an amazing site to see at night… and it keeps the lights on.

It’s how you know you’re almost to San Diego from L.A. or how you’re almost home after a day of consuming massive amounts of alcohol at the S.D. breweries (or coming back from Comic Con)
To be honest, what more do you want to welcome you than two large domes that have little red tips at the end.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking… Get my mind out of the gutter. I’m sorry, but it’s hard to picture anyone planning these buildings and not having anyone stopping them for a moment and pointing out the obvious in what their blue prints looked like.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that the first thing that raced into your mind was the thought of Bosom, breast. Boobies. Fun bags. Mammaries. You know them glands that secret the milk. Mammals got’em
Anyhow — Call them what you will — this place calls it a Nuclear power plant. And even though it’s currently not operational due to some glitches and leakage, I’m pretty sure these domes can still charge up something.
But yes, concrete breast is what these look like and every time I’ve driven up past these in a half passed out manner, someone always points out them as that.
You can’t go up to them — You know, cause you can look but it’s probably not so gentlemen like to touch. Besides, getting close to a power plant will generate the same thing as gawking at cleavage — a one way ticket to Gitmo.
Either way. Look, no touchy. But hey, it’s always nice to get welcomed back to L.A., even if it’s not THAT close, when you’re coming back from a trip to S.D. by the warm welcoming sight of those two concrete large domes.
It’s like you’re in grabbing distance of home.

Not Sure how to review this, since Im going by the architecture of the building. To me it is a San Diego County Landmark. It makes me feel like Im almost near San Diego and I aways get excited when I pass by it, but I dont know why.
Whoever designed its architecture was a genius, and I feel its just part of what makes San Diego so special.
As for nuclear power, we need it, without we would be running off Coal or something, and yeah see how well your house or works runs off that.

JUST SAY YES TO SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION!
Unfortunately people are just ignorant of how nuclear power works and they believe whatever is said on the news. C’mon people… really…really?
Why don’t you look at the accident ridden coal plants where they actually give off hazardous gases on a daily basis, contributing to global warming and the deterioration of the ozone layer. uh, huh… yah I thought so.
So I recommend people getting their facts straight before they make judgement. ie… this is NOT a boiler plant reactor. So it has nothing to do with Fukushimi. So thanks to that person (not going to name names) for putting up that boiling reactor picture. Good job for producing the wrong information… uh duh?!?
Oh wait… I can copy paste «reputable» people too to talk about nuclear power, so here’s my list…
Charlie Sheen «Nuclear power is so cool.»
Jeff Spicolli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High «All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine from San Onofre.»
Homer Simpson «Doh»
Snooki «?$#%@@$%^ nuclear power #$@4%^#W»
Jack Nicholson «You can’t handle the truth… about nuclear power»
So there you have it. Quotes from «reputable» people to disprove organizations that are against nuclear power production.
Think about, this plant is probably helping you write this review with the precious electricity that it produces on a daily basis.

Back in the day, it was actually comforting to pass this landmark on the 5 South freeway. After a long road trip, once you saw the concrete «chee-​chees», with blinking nipples, it meant that we were almost home.
As kids, my siblings and I always referred to this monument as «Dolly Parton Land», followed by jokes about Dolly Parton. For example, how can you identify Dolly Partons’ kids at the playground? They all have stretch marks around their mouths…
Nowadays though, the San Onofre Nuclear Power Site scares the hell out of me. It has currently been taken offline due to unsafe operating conditions, complicated by leaking of radioactive material through internal steam tubes. The proximity of this ticking time bomb to San Diego makes this a subject that we need to pay very close attention to.
In March 2011, an earthquake and tsunami caused a large radiation leak in Fukushima, Japan that required a massive evacuation. Japan will not know the extent of their damage for many years to come. Until then, the Japanese public has to get regular thyroid examinations, and geiger counter scans.
Here in California, we have earthquakes all the time. In fact, the San Onofre nuclear reactor sits near four big faults, with the San Andreas Fault being the most obvious.
Isn’t it time to have an honest discussion about alternatives to nuclear energy while the plant is shut down? I would hate to have a meltdown in the future (even a small one) that would impact the lives of every person within a 500 mile radius. Unless you can GUARANTEE that this nuclear power plant is safe (you can’t), let’s go ahead and keep it offline permanently.

Time to ditch this accident-​waiting-​to-​happen and go clean energy! I don’t care how many public utility officials cry that we need the power generated from this monstrosity! Get real, people! Stop burying your head in the sand!
San Onofre Nuclear Plant needs to be closed down! The Peace Resource Center of San Diego will give it to you straight about just how dangerous SONGS really is.
Let us commemorate the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Power plant that started one year ago today with the calamitous earthquake and tsunami that devastated our Japanese friends. Did you know that there are still three reactors still in full «level 7″ meltdown in Japan, as I write? Closure is long overdue at San Onofre and in the best interests of public safety.
„The similarity between Fukushima and San Onofre is stunning,“ said Raymond Lutz, former congressional candidate, engineer and National Coordinator of Citizens’ Oversight Projects. He was quoted on The Peace Resource Center website. „The two plants are not identical, but San Onofre — originally built to withstand only a magnitude 6.0 earthquake — was retrofitted to withstand only a 7.0 earthquake. The seawall at San Onofre is only 14 feet tall from high tide (30 feet from low-​low tide). But the real danger is stark: the Japanese earthquake was a magnitude 9.0 and tsunamis peaked at 133 feet. It is only a matter of time before San Onofre is also in a full meltdown, just like Fukushima, and will devastate this area, force evacuation of millions of people, and lead to many untimely deaths. We can’t let that happen.“
At some point in the near future, the San Onofre plant must be decommissioned. We believe that time is now,» said Gene Stone, of Residents Organized for a Safe Environment in San Clemente. «While the plant is shut down for maintenance, we believe this is the right time to start the decommissioning process for the safety of the workers at the plant and the community at large. We must do the right thing now and not spend one dime more on any more retrofits.»
It could be that the plant, itself, will be the harbinger of it’s own undoing. «After spending $ 640 million to replace the steam generators just 18 months ago, operators thought the plant would run for another 10 to 20 years. Instead, hundreds of heat transfer tubes are exhibiting untimely thinning, baffling experts. The public only found out about the thinning tubes after the unexpected radioactive steam release last month forced management to explain why the entire plant was shut down,» said The Peace Resource page.
C’mon people! Can you see the writing on the wall here? In remembrance of the pain and suffering that occurred from the Fukushima disaster last year, we should follow the example of Germany and work to decommission all nuclear energy plants nationwide and move immediately to renewable energy sources.
JUST SAY NO TO SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT!

I pass this nuclear reactor every time i head down to SD from the OC.
4 stars just because the Design Engineer/​Architect had the sense of humor to build it to resemble DD breasts with nipples that look hard from the cold beach breeze. kudos to the engineer and or Architect.
those nipples look hard enough for me to juice an orange with. just saying…