Community leaders and stakeholders gave final testimony Tuesday that was largely supportive of the California Public Utilities Commission’s plan to close the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in Central California.
Organizations including Diablo Canyon owner and operator Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and the County of San Luis Obispo, where the plant is located, supported the closure plan, known as the Community Impact Mitigation Program (CIMP). CPUC is slated to vote on the closure plan in December.
A spokesperson for the County of San Luis Obispo, where Diablo Canyon is located, said the facility is the only nuclear plant in California to close with advanced planning. However, the plan does not make up for the county’s upcoming losses in property taxes needed to support law enforcement, firefighters, and school systems, the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Californians for Green Nuclear Energy (CGNP) opposed the CIMP.
“Diablo Canyon should be run for the entirety of its designed lifetime of 60 years,” said Gene Nelson, Government Liaison for CGNP. “Closing the plant would create an economic depression as is noted in other power plant closures in rural areas around the country.”
Still, most organizations present Tuesday supported the closure plan, including Friends of the Earth.
That group and PG&E “don’t usually get along, but we found common ground,” said PG&E Counsel Bill Manheim.
Manheim and other speakers, including those the City of San Francisco and the Office of Ratepayer Advocates, supported the proposal, which includes continued employment for the Diablo Canyon workers and replaces the Canyon’s energy production with other non-carbon-emission resources.
The proposed shutdown plan would end all production at the end of Diablo Canyon’s current license in 2025.
CPUC could vote on the shutdown plan as early as Dec. 14. The plan not address nuclear plant decommissioning processes, licensing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or storage of spent nuclear fuel.
