The Department of Energy this week gave nuclear plant operators, such as the one in charge of California’s last operating nuclear power plant, the rest of the summer to apply for a federal bailout.
Sep. 6 is now the deadline for interested plant operators to submit their bids on the first chunk of DOE’s roughly $6 billion civil nuclear credits program, the agency said in a press release Thursday. That pushes back the last call for bids by 60 days or so — the deadline had previously been July 5.
DOE also changed eligibility requirements for the first award cycle, doing away with a restriction prohibiting nuclear plants that use a ratemaking scheme known as cost-of-service regulation from applying for a bailout.
Crucially, those updates allow Diablo Canyon Power Plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to bid on nuclear credits. The utility told DOE in a letter dated Tuesday that it supported the rules change, initially proposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). PG&E had also requested a 75-day extension on the application deadline.
PG&E’s letter marks a departure from the utility’s previous public comments about Diablo Canyon, which is currently scheduled to go offline by 2025. PG&E said as recently as June 6 that plans to shutter the plant are “full steam ahead.” Orano was scheduled to handle spent fuel management activities once the plant goes offline.
Meanwhile, a set of amendments to an energy bill working its way through the California legislature published Sunday proposed a “strategic reliability reserve fund” that could be used to extend Diablo Canyon’s life without a federal bailout.
According to the bill, the state’s Department of Water Resources could use the $75 million fund to build or operate new power plants, or pay for an “extension of the operating life of existing generating facilities planned for retirement.” Diablo Canyon fits the bill for such activities.
SB 122 is largely aimed at shoring up the reliability of California’s electrical grid by streamlining the approval process for new power plants. The bill, which was introduced in January and passed by the state Senate in February, cleared Sacramento’s state assembly on a 57-13 vote Wednesday. The measure has the backing of Gov. Newsom, whose office has expressed interest in recent weeks in keeping Diablo Canyon online.
