The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was scheduled this week to discuss a proposed 20-year life extension for California’s last operating nuclear power plant, according to agency documents.
NRC is currently weighing whether to renew Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s operating license. According to a meeting notice published Monday afternoon, the commission planned to meet with the plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Dec. 8 to go over “particular technical topics for the preparation of information to support license renewal” of the Avila Beach, Calif., facility.
The meeting, which will be broadcast live via webcast, is open to the public and begins at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Until recently, PG&E had planned to deactivate Diablo Canyon’s two reactors in 2024 and 2025, respectively. The plant’s fortunes shifted in August when California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed sweeping climate legislation which included up to $1.4 billion in state loans aimed at keeping Diablo Canyon online for another five years.
PG&E submitted its license extension request with NRC Sep. 31.
In an effort to streamline the process, PG&E has asked NRC to pick up where it left off on the utility’s 2009 extension application, scrapped in 2018 when PG&E announced Diablo Canyon would close.
If the commission refuses and requires PG&E to submit a new application, the utility has asked for a regulatory exemption that would allow Diablo Canyon’s current operating license, which expires in 2025, to remain in effect while the extension is under review.
Meanwhile, Diablo Canyon is set to receive another cash injection, this one from the Department of Energy. The agency announced Nov. 21 a roughly $1.1 billion in funding for the plant as part of the federal government’s civil nuclear credits program.
Diablo Canyon’s power reactors have a combined generating capacity of 2,400 megawatts, enough to power about 3 million homes, according to the utility’s website. The facility is California’s last operating nuclear power plant — the Golden State’s other plants, which include San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station and Humboldt Bay Power Plant, have all been shuttered.
