Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) said this week it will delay by two weeks filing its joint proposal with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) as it begins plans to close its Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant by 2025.
PG&E had was originally scheduled to file on Thursday, but opted for the delay to continue discussions with stakeholders, including San Luis Obispo County and the San Luis Coastal Unified School District. Since announcing the joint proposal on June 21 to close the plant and shift energy production toward other greenhouse-gas-free sources, PG&E has held a series of public meetings with stakeholders to discuss the plans.
“PG&E and the original parties are focused on a continued dialogue and exploring the issues raised in order to seek potential solutions that could be integrated into the filing with the CPUC on or before August 11, 2016,” the company said in a press release Tuesday.
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors has heard a number of suggestions and concerns from the public, including desires to keep the plant open, to close the facility as soon as possible, the possibility of reusing the facility and its land after decommissioning, and safety worries, among other items.
Located about 12 miles southwest of San Luis Obispo, the two Diablo Canyon nuclear units represent the last operating reactors in California. PG&E cited California’s shifting energy policies, including the goal of increasing its renewable portfolio standard to 50 percent by 2030, in shuttering the plant. Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2 will close in 2024-25, when their operating licenses with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission expire.
Signing onto the joint proposal with PG&E are the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245, the Coalition of California Utility Employees, Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environment California, and the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility.
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors discussed the delayed filing during its meeting on Tuesday. Vice Chairman Adam Hill said during the meeting that he believes the delay is in everyone’s best interest, noting the board’s responsibility to address residents’ concerns. He also discussed the prospect of nuclear waste storage along the coast.
“It’s likely this county at the end of that license will be engaging with the federal government with some sort of legal action because we don’t want to have nuclear waste on our coast, and it is their fault that we do,” Hill said. “And it’s not something that we should just accept. It’s not the fault of anybody in this room. It’s the failure of federal policy to remove that waste, so essentially what I’m saying is there is a lot that we’re going to have to consider with successive boards, councils, and administrators.”
An estimated 74,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel has accumulated at about 100 American nuclear sites around the country, resulting from the Energy Department’s failure to to take title to commercial nuclear waste under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. About 300 miles south of San Luis Obispo, residents in San Diego County have been grappling with their own nuclear waste storage issues at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
“We’ve had a long and good and sometimes complex relationship with PG&E here locally, and it will continue on in good fashion beyond this,” Hill said, adding that he feels good about where the plant closure process stands.
