Apr
14
Gov. Newsom Fights Anti-Nuke Activists
“[I]f you have an existing nuke, keep it open if you can. I think most people are agnostic on new nuclear, hoping that the next generation of reactors might pan out but fearing that they’ll be too expensive.” — Bill McKibben, author, activist, founder of 350.org
If this topic sounds vaguely familiar, it might be because I posted about the Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) a couple years ago and how CA Gov. Gavin Newsom decided maybe nuclear power wasn’t so bad after all, if it would prevent more brownouts and blackouts due to unreliable “renewable” energy. So, Newsom fought to keep the DCPP — scheduled for closing in 2024/2025 — open by applying for big bucks that the Biden administration was (surprisingly) offering for rescuing nuclear plants. (Check out the full article here: “Newsom Desperate for Nuclear Power”.)
After much analysis, paperwork, necessary maintenance (and perhaps some upgrades) at the plant, the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) announced this past January that they had agreed to give the DCPP’s owner, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), “a $1.1 billion credit payment… to provide the plant with a path to avoid its planned shutdown in 2025.”
According to the DOE’s website, PG&E had to…
“…enter into a Credit Award and Redemption Agreement (CARA) for DOE to make the final award. The CARA will govern the relationship between DOE and PG&E. Diablo Canyon produces approximately 16 TWh of electricity annually, about 15% of the state’s clean energy. The award will save 1,500 clean energy jobs.”
Hurrah!
But, all is not entirely rosy, because the enviro-activists are not happy and continue to fight for closure of this last working nuclear power plant in California. As reported by The Daily Signal,
“Though nuclear power plants produce negligible carbon emissions, Friends of the Earth, a group seeking to reduce carbon emissions, filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block the DOE’s funding, arguing that climate change could make the plant unsafe to operate due to flood risks [since it lies on the California coast] and that earthquakes in the area could cause accidents….
DOE conducted a review assessing the environmental impact of the plant’s continued operation prior to approving the new funding. The review found that the plant ‘complies with Federal, state, and local environmental regulations, requirements, and agreements and operates using best management practices.'”
Also of note,
“Newsom seeks to transition California to 100% clean energy by 2045, according to the governor’s office. California would need to build 148,000 megawatts of new clean power by 2045 to meet this goal.”
The governor has a lot of work to do, but it will ultimately be up to his successors. For the people’s sake, I just hope they are smart about this and focus more on nuclear power (including small modular reactors (SMR)) over unreliable solar and wind energy farms.
