New Artificial Kelp Reef Unveiled near San Onofre Nuclear Plant

The nuclear power plants at San Onofre suck in and discharge 2.4 billion gallons of seawater every day. For decades, Southern California Edison claimed the environmental damage was minimal, but scientists proved the cooling system kills marine life, including garibaldi, the state fish, and shrinks the kelp forest. Since 1997, SCE has worked to compensate, and today it announced completion of the biggest artificial reef in the country. UCLA Professor Richard Ambrose, who's been studying the problem since the mid-80's, is a lead scientist on the project.