What a pair.
Southern California is preparing to say goodbye to the infamous “nuclear boobs” that have loomed over Interstate 5 for decades.
The twin domes at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station are scheduled for demolition by the end of the year. Their removal is part of a multiyear effort to clear nuclear waste from the shuttered power plant.
Of the facility’s 62 structures, 52 have already been demolished. More than 700 million pounds of radioactive material have been removed, with roughly 3.6 million pounds still remaining. Full decommissioning is expected to be completed 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.
More than 1,600 tons of spent nuclear fuel remain at the site, which is positioned between Orange and San Diego counties and about 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean, the lawmaker said.
“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 were constructed in 1983 and 1984 before the plant was taken offline in 2013.
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Although the facility has been closed for more than a decade, many Californians are already lamenting the loss of the instantly recognizable landmarks.
“Losing a piece of my childhood. Well, two I guess,” one Reddit user joked.
“Should have kept them and painted them as an art piece to be seen by aircraft flying by like the 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 person commented.
The domes became pop culture fixtures and were often nicknamed “Dolly Parton” by locals. They were referenced in the Descendents’ 1986 song “Kids,” which includes the lyrics, “Went driving down to San Diego/ Passing up the nuclear tits,” and appeared in the 1988 film “The Naked Gun.”
The demolition effort comes as activists and public officials continue to warn about the potential for radiation risks at the site.
“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.”
