Why Diablo Canyon is Key for California’s Energy Future
Image courtesy of Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.
The Diablo Canyon Power Plant, which is owned by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), is critical for California’s energy future. The last remaining nuclear plant in the state provides 10% of California’s total energy. Yet, despite the plant’s significance, state officials want to retire its 2 reactors. But could the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) come in and save the day?
Why Decommissioning Diablo Canyon Would be a Bad Move
The main downside of a decommissioning is that California would lose thousands of megawatts of reliable, carbon-free power. Ironically, despite California’s aggressive clean energy goals, making up for the loss of Diablo Canyon would likely require burning more gas.
It seems state officials have heeded the warning, as the original 2024 and 2025 retirement timeline was recently extended to 2030. Just a couple of month later, the DOE gave a $1.1 billion grant to the plant to make upgrades. Both developments are being touted as positive moves.
At this point, the decision hanging in the balance is whether the power plant will be allowed to retain its operating license while pursuing the license renewal process, or if it will be forced to shut down while the process plays out. Typically, nuclear plants are required to submit license renewal applications 5 years before lease expiration, and due to the flip-flopping situation surrounding the plant, this deadline has been missed.
PG&E filed a letter in the 4Q 2022 to the NRC requesting an exemption from standard renewal requirements so the plant can continue to operate without interruption. The NRC’s decision is expected this month (March 2023).
Hopefully PG&E’s exception request is approved by the NRC. If not, California’s capacity and reliability will take a hit, and the state’s clean energy goals will become more difficult to achieve. Overall, most industry pundits believe that additional nuclear capacity will be needed for the U.S. to completely transition to clean energy. And continued operation of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant is certainly no exception.
