The Governor of the US State of California, Gavin Newsom of the centre-left Democratic Party, has circulated draft legislation among the State’s lawmakers that would extend the life of California’s one-and-only nuclear power plant (NPP), Diablo Canyon. The draft legislation has been shown to various US news media.
Originally commissioned in 1985, the two-reactor NPP is currently due to be shut down in 2024/25, with the first reactor being shut down in late 2024 and the second in August 2025. It currently provides the State with 8.6% of its electricity, but 17% of its zero-carbon electricity.
“The impacts of climate change are occurring sooner and with greater intensity and frequency than anticipated, causing unprecedented stress on California’s energy system,” explains the draft legislation. Droughts are threatening the State’s hydroelectric power sources and wildfires are threatening its electricity infrastructure. Meanwhile, various problems, including tariff disputes and disruptions in supply chains, are making it difficult for the State to ramp up renewable electricity generation.
“If the Diablo Canyon powerplant’s operations are not extended, increased energy production from greenhouse-gas-emitting sources will result, exacerbating the climate impacts already stressing California’s energy system, and the threat to overall energy reliability in the state will be enhanced,” states the draft legislation. “Continued operations of the Diablo Canyon powerplant for an additional five to ten years beyond 2024/25 is therefore critical to ensure statewide energy system reliability and to minimize the emissions of greenhouse gasses while additional renewable energy resources come online, until those new renewable energy resources are adequate to meet demand.”
This news came a few days after the US Congress, in Washington, passed the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which includes provisions to support the development of low and zero carbon energy sources across the country. These sources include nuclear energy.
“The energy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act send a clear signal that nuclear is essential to the transition toward a carbon-free economy that also provides long-term, quality clean energy jobs,” highlighted US industry group Nuclear Energy Institute president and CEO Maria Korsnick when the Act was passed. “The investment and tax incentives for both large, existing nuclear plants and newer, advanced reactors, as well as [high-assay low-enriched uranium] and hydrogen production, set nuclear energy on a level playing field, ensuring that nuclear can form the backbone of a stable electric grid that also includes large shares of wind and solar.”