Following Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s approval last week to run through 2029 and 2030 by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California’s last nuclear power plant received word that the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) found its renewal application sufficient. Pacific Gas & Electric, which operates Diablo, announced on Tuesday that the NRC's sufficiency determination allows the company to continue running Diablo past its expiration dates, because the review generally takes several years.
At the CPUC hearing on December 14, the issue was largely the costs and benefits of extending Diablo's operations for five years, as initiated in Senate Bill 846. That bill provided a $1.4 billion loan to PG&E to continue operations, as the Northern California energy provider had previously decided to close Diablo when the licenses for Reactor Units 1 and 2 ran out in 2024 and 2025. However, in the face of potential blackouts during California's burning hot summer of 2020, the drought drying up hydroelectric power sources, and a 2030 completion timeframe for federal offshore wind energy projects, Governor Newsom backed the bill to keep Diablo in operation to bridge the gap.
The five CPUC commissioners voted 3-0 — one abstained, and one was absent — stating clean energy still lagged in production compared to Diablo, which produces 2,200 megawatts of electricity. The Proposed Decision notes energy storage and paired solar-storage projects had increased as of March 2023, but hundreds or thousands of megawatts would be missing if heat waves or wildfire challenged the grid and Diablo were offline. The decision also states no supply can be brought online that would generate Diablo's 18,000 gigawatt-hours per year before the second reactor was to close in 2025.