California’s state Senate was scheduled Thursday to discuss a proposed billion-dollar bailout for the Golden State’s last operating nuclear power plant, according to a meeting notice.
During the hearing, the state Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee was to discuss the proposed bailout, which would allow Sacramento to loan up to $1.4 billion to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to keep Diablo Canyon Power Plant online past 2025. Such an action was initially floated Aug. 11 by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) as part of a climate plan sent to the state legislature.
Diablo Canyon, in San Luis Obispo County, Calif., is currently slated to close this decade. PG&E has said that it would take the plant’s two reactors offline in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
If it became law, the proposal would authorize the California Department of Water Resources to loan PG&E money to keep Diablo Canyon running, as long as the utility applies with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the plant’s operating license.
The utility applied with NRC in 2009 for such a license extension, but withdrew in 2018 after it decided to close the plant. A new license extension process could last beyond Diablo Canyon’s scheduled shutdown date.
Under the proposed state bailout, PG&E would also need to apply for federal assistance, such as the Department of Energy’s roughly $6 billion civil nuclear credits program.
If the California legislature decides to move forward with the proposal, it will have to act quickly. The state’s legislative session ends Aug. 31, and lawmakers won’t meet again in Sacramento until January 2023.
