Wheeler North Reef: The World's Largest Artificial Rocky Reef

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station's cooling system damaged local marine life. To compensate for these lost resources, an artificial reef was built by Southern California Edison and mitigation monitoring for the artificial reef is led by UC Santa Barbara under the direction of the California Coastal Commission. Today, the reef is largest artificial rocky reef in the world. Researchers will continue to monitor the reef until it has 32 years of mitigation credit—years when data requirements are met.