The Nuclear Regulatory Commission can let the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant operate past the expiration of its federal license while the plant owner applies for a license renewal, a federal court ruled Monday.
Pending a rehearing of the full Ninth Circuit or an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, an independent branch of the federal government, the decision published Monday allows Diablo Canyon to stay online, and without any new environmental reviews by the NRC.
It was a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Two of the judges on the panel are Republican appointees, the third a Democrat appointee. The ruling was part of a lawsuit brought by environmental groups and argued in January.
The environmentalists argued that NRC ignored its own rules that plant owners must apply for a license renewal five years before their existing license runs out, and that the commission must do a lengthy environmental review before granting a license renewal.
But the Ninth Circuit panel said that the NRC legally can, and has, granted exemptions to its filing deadline, and that Diablo Canyon qualified by one based on “unique circumstances” in which California effectively prevented the utility from applying for renewal during the NRC’s preferred five-year window.
“[T]he Exemption Decision was not arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise contrary to law,” the court wrote in its opinion. The court also said that this particular exemption did not trigger an environmental review because it was a gateway to a licensing proceeding and not an actual NRC licensing proceeding.
In any case, the Ninth Circuit said, the environmentalists presented no evidence that there are environmental hazards and risks at Diablo Canyon or the surrounding site that merit a review by the NRC.
California in 2022 passed a law requiring PG&E to keep Diablo Canyon open. That reversed a 2018 state law that required the utility to close the plant in 2025, when the operating license on the second of its two reactors will expire.
Diablo Canyon Unit 1’s license will turn 40 and expire on Nov. 2, 2024. Unit 2 will catch up on Aug. 26 2025. NRC has said it might not finish with PG&E’s application for about two years, a month or so after Unit 2’s license expires.
