California might rescue last nuclear power plant
A bill under consideration by the Legislature would pave the way for state lawmakers to extend the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, the state's last nuclear facility, past its scheduled closure.
The energy trailer bill negotiated by Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration allocates a reserve fund of up to $75 million to the state Department of Water Resources to prolong the operation of aging power plants scheduled to close. Diablo Canyon, on the coast near San Luis Obispo, has been preparing to shut down for more than five years.
The funding is part of a contentious bill that, if enacted, aims to address a couple of Newsom's most pressing concerns — maintaining the reliability of the state's increasingly strained power grid, and avoiding the politically damaging prospect of brown-outs or blackouts.
Should the Newsom administration choose to extend the life of the nuclear plant, the funding would allow that — although the actual cost to keep the 37-yearold facility owned by Pacific Gas and Electric is not known. Newsom's office and the Department of Water Resources did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment. Asked for an estimate, PG&E spokesperson Lynsey Paulo did not provide one.
Even if only a contingency fund, the optics of sending millions of state and federal dollars to the state's largest utility — which has a recent record of responsibility for deadly wildfires and state “bailouts” — are politically problematic.
While the energy bill doesn't itself authorize the extension of the plant's life, it does provide the money should state leaders decide to do so.
The energy trailer bill seeks to address the thorny transition as California tries to move from a reliance on fossil fuels to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. The legislation spells out the concern that during extreme weather events, renewable energy alone will not be enough to meet the state's rising power demand.
The state's solution: Keep Diablo Canyon as open as a failsafe, and pay to retrofit several aging fossil fuel facilities and backup power generation.
“The governor requested this language, not as a decision to move ahead with continuing operation of Diablo Canyon, but to protect the option to do that if a future decision is made,” said state Sen. John Laird, a Democrat from San Luis Obispo.
Located on the state's Central Coast, Diablo Canyon has been supplying power to the state's electric grid since 1985. Its 2,240 megawatts of electricity generation is roughly enough to support the needs of more than 3 million people.
In 2016, PG&E announced plans to close the nuclear plant, noting that the transition to renewable energy would make continued operations too costly. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the closure in 2018. The facility has two reactors: One reactor is slated to close in 2024, followed by the second in 2025.
Regardless of the future decision about the lifespan of the nuclear plant, nothing can happen without federal and state funding.
The Biden administration created a $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit Program to rescue financially struggling nuclear power plants, and Newsom has said he would consider applying for federal funding to keep Diablo Canyon open past its scheduled 2025 closure.
But in order to access the federal funding, PG&E is facing a July 5 deadline. The utility asked the federal government to grant it a 75day extension to apply.
To keep the plant operating, PG&E would have to seismically retrofit the plant and make heavy investments in cooling system and maintenance upgrades.
“This is so ill-advised,” said Linda Seeley of San Luis Obispo. “I know we're in a very serious climate crisis, but this is not a rational or practical response.”