Following bailouts from the federal government and the state of California, the company running the Golden State’s last operating nuclear power plant projected this week that it could have a renewed operating license for the facility in the next two years or so.
During a Thursday teleconference with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) Director of Strategic Initiatives Phillipe Soenen forecast that the utility could have a new license for Diablo Canyon Power Plant by “late 2025 or early 2026,” if its November license renewal application with the agency went according to plan.
Although PG&E had planned to take Diablo Canyon’s two reactors offline in 2024 and 2025, the Avila Beach, Calif., plant appears to have gotten a new lease on life in recent weeks — the Department of Energy Nov. 21 announced that the facility would receive around $1.1 billion in federal funds as part of the agency’s civil nuclear credits program.
That comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in August signed a sweeping climate bill that greenlit up to $1.4 billion in additional cash for Diablo Canyon aimed at keeping it running for another five years. As part of the legislation, Sacramento gave PG&E six months to apply with NRC for a license extension.
In its November extension application, the utility asked NRC to pick up where it left off on a similar application submitted by the utility in 2009, scrapped in 2018 when PG&E announced Diablo Canyon would close.
However, if NRC refuses to do so, PG&E requested a regulatory exemption allowing the plant to remain online even after its current operating license expires in 2025, while the proposed extension is under review.
Meanwhile, Soenen told NRC Thursday that, if approved, Diablo Canyon may not operate for the duration of a 20-year license renewal because the state’s August legislation only authorizes five years of funding for the plant.
“Consistent with what we’ve done in the past, we’re looking for a renewal of 20 years,” Soenen said, “but the actual shutdown date will be determined by the state.”
A 20-year license extension would also provide “maximum flexibility” for PG&E customers, Soenen added, and would be a more cost-effective option since the utility has already started on a similar renewal request with NRC.
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.
