Feds say San Onofre nuclear fuel transfers can resume

Federal regulators are allowing operators of a closed Southern California nuclear power plant to resume transferring nuclear waste to a storage facility.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given the go-ahead to take canisters of waste from cooling pools to a safer dry bunker at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

Transfers were halted nearly a year ago after a 50-ton canister of spent fuel was left hanging and at risk of being dropped rather than lowered 18 feet into a storage vault. The plant operator, Southern California Edison, calls the NRC decision an "important milestone" but didn't say when transfers will resume.

Twenty-nine canisters have been moved into dry storage but 44 remain.

The power plant has been closed since 2012.