Diablo Canyon to be shut down
Regulators approve a plan for state’s last nuclear power plant to close in 2025.
The last remaining nuclear power plant in California will begin shutting down operations in six years as part of a plan approved Thursday by state regulators.
“We chart a new energy future by phasing out nuclear power here in California,” Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, said before the 5-0 vote. “We agree the time has come.”
The nuclear plant’s operator, Pacific Gas & Electric, in 2016 announced an agreement with a collection of environmental and labor groups to shut down the plant, which has delivered electricity since 1985.
The utility said Diablo Canyon would be uneconomical to run in the near future because of changes in California’s power grid — specifically, the growth of renewable energy sources, increased energy efficiency measures and the migration of more customers from traditional utilities to new local suppliers under the state’s community choice aggregation program.
Diablo Canyon had been the last remaining nuclear plant in the state, after San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station closed in January 2012 after a small radiation leak from a steam generator.
Although California soon will have no nuclear plants in operation, there are 99 other nuclear reactors operating in the United States.
Under Thursday’s decision, Unit 1 will close in 2024, and Unit 2 is scheduled for retirement in 2025, the years the federal licenses for the respective units expire.
Sitting on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in San Luis Obispo County, Diablo Canyon generates almost 18,000 gigawatt-hours of power each year, powering 1.7 million homes.
According to the most recent figures from the California Energy Commission, nuclear power accounted for about 9% of the state’s power mix, without producing greenhouse gases.
Supporters of nuclear energy said closing Diablo Canyon will cause the state to use more natural gas to replace the electricity generated by the plant.
“I’m sorely disappointed the CPUC has neglected the ratepayers and the environment,” said Gene Nelson, government liaison with Californians for Green Nuclear Power. “Solar and wind cannot be counted on .... They’re subject to random interruptions.”
Environmental groups hailed the decision, which was expected after 17 months of filings and debate, but also were concerned about what type of energy sources would be used to replace Diablo’s electricity.
“We really have to make sure that as we’re phasing out and getting rid of our nuclear power that we’re not replacing it with dirty and dangerous fossil fuels like natural gas and that we’re moving to a 100% clean, renewable economy,” said Dan Jacobson, state director of Environment California in Los Angeles.
Commissioners expressed confidence that won’t happen. “There’s no retreat from our strong commitment to our GHG [greenhouse gas] reduction goals,” Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen said.