Pacific Gas & Electric can continue to operate the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant past its scheduled closing date in 2025, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled Thursday, a significant decision aimed at ensuring grid reliability in California.
The decision allows PG&E to keep the plant online so long as the utility completes a lengthy relicensing process before Dec. 31, 2023, which requires it to outline a plan to address issues related to the safety and integrity of its reactors.
Still, it is major win for Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and other state lawmakers who had pushed for the extension, citing threats to the state's power grid during periods of peak demand.
Lawmakers in October overwhelmingly approved a measure to approve Diablo's operations through 2030 and granted a $1.4 billion loan to PG&E to keep the plant online.
Diablo Canyon, located on the coast in San Luis Obispo County, is a major source of power in the state, supplying roughly 17% of California’s greenhouse-gas-free electricity supply and 8.6% of the state's total electricity.
Efforts to keep the nuclear power plant open come as California battles extreme heat, wildfires, and other events that have strained the state’s electric grid.
Diablo “continues to be an important resource as we transition away from fossil fuel generation to greater amounts of clean energy, with the goal of achieving 100 percent clean electric retail sales by 2045,” Newsom's office said in a statement last fall.
The NRC said in a news release that the exemption would “not present undue risk to the public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense and security.”
It also reaffirms a decision from the California Energy Commission, which ruled this week that keeping Diablo online through 2030 is necessary to keep the lights on in the state.
“As California confronts a rapidly changing climate, extraordinary heat events and record energy demand are becoming increasingly ordinary. The state needs to keep all options on the table to protect public health and safety,” California Energy Commission Vice Chairman Siva Gunda said in a statement. “This includes maintaining Diablo Canyon’s operations.”
High heat and wildfire conditions have stressed the state's power grid to near collapse in recent years, including in 2022, when the state endured its longest and most intense heat wave on record. Historic drought has also reduced its ability to generate hydropower by 48%.
A recent study published by the Brattle Group found that extending Diablo Canyon’s capacity could help California decarbonize “more quickly, more reliably, and at a lower cost” — approximately $5 billion less — than if the plant shut down in 2025 as previously planned.
California has tried to transition away from nuclear in recent years but endured scrutiny after its 2012 closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, or SONGS.
A 2016 study published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics found that in the 12-month period after the Southern California facility was shuttered, the power it generated was largely replaced by natural gas, increasing emissions and driving up costs for consumers by an estimated $350 million that year alone.
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In the 12 months following the closure of SONGS, researchers found that carbon emissions also rose by 9 million metric tons — the equivalent of putting an additional 2 million gas-consuming cars on the road.