The agreement includes orderly replacement power with a portfolio of greenhouse gas-free energy resources, a commitment to a strong employee retention and severance program, and a significant impact-mitigation program. So did the 2011 disaster in Fukushima, Japan, when an quake and tsunami led to meltdowns and radioactive releases at a nuclear plant.
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Hostility to the Diablo plant intensified following the Japanese natural disaster in 2011 that caused the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
Closing California’s last nuclear power plant will also make the state’s grid more flexible, so more renewable energy can power California’s businesses and homes.
Just last week, Californians for Green Nuclear Power held a rally in downtown San Luis Obispo to show their support for keeping the plant open.
As the global campaign against climate change has gathered steam in recent years, old controversies surrounding nuclear energy have been re-ignited. After this week’s announcement, a post on the group’s Facebook page stated, “Today’s announcement about the looming closure of Diablo Canyon saddens us and also deepens our resolve”. “We’re clearly on our way”. And it will raise its target for renewables to 55% by 2031, exceeding the state’s 50% by 2030. It really means the end of nuclear power in California and its replacement with renewable energy and efficiency. “As we make this transition, Diablo Canyon’s full output will no longer be required”, said PG&E Corp chairman, CEO and president Tony Earley. As of 2014, nuclear power represented nearly 9 percent of in-state generation. In a regulatory filing Tuesday, PG&E estimated the cost to decommission Diablo Canyon at almost $3.8 billion, adding that the plant’s nuclear decommissioning trust accounts held around $2.8 billion as of March 31. One fault runs 650 yards from the plants twin reactors. But new research has led to more questions about nearby faults, their shaking potential and how the company evaluates them. The troubling news is that the risk will continue until 2025.. The agreement wades deeply into intricate energy procurement, environmental and rate-setting matters that are normally the exclusive jurisdiction of state agencies. Obviously, Jerry Brown was a longtime opponent of Diablo Canyon decades ago, and there’s a fairly progressive state Legislature in California. Over the next few years we should be able to watch an interesting case testing whether it’s possible to take nuclear power offline without worsening climate change.
For the rest of the country, “nuclear energy is a vital part of a balanced energy portfolio”, the Nuclear Energy Institute said in a statement.
Of the 59 new nuclear reactors under construction worldwide, only four of them are being built in the U.S. Two other nuclear plants in the state had closed in 1976 and 1989.
“California’s carbon market does zilch to boost nuclear power”, Barnett and Konolige wrote.
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Diablo Canyon’s spent fuel will remain on site because, as in the case with all nuclear facilities including San Onofre, it is the federal government’s responsibility to ultimately find places to deposit nuclear waste.
