Should Gavin Newsom keep Diablo Canyon open? SLO anti-nuclear group has concerns
State leaders’ stance on Diablo Canyon Power Plant may be shifting, but one San Luis Obispo County group says it is concerned about the possibility the nuclear power plant may stay open.
On Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Gov. Gavin Newsom is considering applying for federal funding that would potentially help keep Diablo Canyon open beyond its expected closure in 2025.
In response, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace released a statement questioning “whether the governor has the power to make any decisions about how long Diablo Canyon should operate,” and noted several difficulties the anti-nuclear group sees with attempting to keep the plant open this late in the decommissioning process.
The anti-nuclear group noted that the funding in question, part of the Biden administration’s $6 billion Nuclear Credit Program, requires the applicant to be the owner of the nuclear plant. That means the “decision is solely in the hands of PG&E” and not the governor, Mothers for Peace said in its statement.
California’s last operating nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon is the single largest producer of electricity in the state — generating roughly 6% of California’s power in 2021, according to the Times.
PG&E, which operates Diablo Canyon, in 2016 reached a joint agreement with environmental groups, labor unions and other parties to close the nuclear power plant near Avila Beach after licenses for its nuclear reactors expire in 2024 and 2025.
As the push to keep the plant open has gained traction in recent months, PG&E has consistently said it plans to shutter the plant as scheduled.
After the Los Angeles Times reported that Newsom is considering applying for the nuclear funding, however, the utility company released a statement indicating a potential willingness to consider keeping the plant open.
“PG&E is committed to California’s clean energy future,” company spokeswoman Suzanne Hosn told The Tribune in an email. “The people of PG&E are proud of the role that Diablo Canyon Power Plant plays in our state. We are always open to considering all options to ensure continued safe, reliable, and clean energy delivery to our customers.”
In its news release, Mothers for Peace said that if PG&E wishes to continue past the 2025 closure date, “it would have to face a variety of complicated issues.”
Those include changes to its once-through-cooling system, navigating mitigation funding already dispersed to local governments and employee programs and reversing the settlement agreement approved by the California Public Utilities Commission in 2018.
“Logic and the safety of our community requires Diablo Canyon to close as planned in 2024 and 2025,” the group concluded. “Millions of dollars of taxpayer and rate payer money have already been spent to support an orderly shutdown process.”
This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 12:49 PM.
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