Irvine officials gathered Tuesday to confront a concern that has lingered on the county’s doorstep for more than a decade: What to do with the 3.6 million pounds of radioactive waste stored at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

Mayor Larry Agran convened a special City Council study session on Sept. 30 to examine how the decades-old waste — sealed in 123 stainless-steel canisters just 30 miles from the city’s borders — could affect Irvine and the rest of Orange County. He called on his city colleagues to consider a local “Plan B” to protect the region, including a study on whether Irvine could play a role in such an effort.

Any release of radioactive material, Agran warned, could impact millions of residents and thousands of businesses across Orange, San Diego and nearb

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