California Closing Last Nuclear Plant After 3 Decades

That’s Southern California Edison’s San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS), which was taken offline in 2012 and shuttered for good in 2013. At the same time, the state has enacted new renewable portfolio standard (RPS), energy efficiency, demand response and energy storage goals since then, which will play a role in PG&E’s long-term replacement plan.

About 1,500 people are now employed at Diablo Canyon Power Plant. It was reached with the agreement of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Works 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.

“This is an historic agreement”, Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, said in a press statement emailed to The Daily Caller News Foundation.

A 2015 state law requires California to source 50% of its power from renewables by 2030.

This includes incentives to retain employees until 2025, retraining of employees for the decommissioning process, and severance payments when their employment ends. PG&E is asking the CPUC for permission to recover the costs of resource integration through state grid operator CAISO’s Transmission Access Charge (TAC), or through a cost allocation mechanism (CAM) like those set up for other unexpected utility investment needs, like SCE’s recent procurements to manage the closure of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility. Greenhouse gases are emissions that deplete the ozone layer and cause global warming.

However, it noted, the proposal is contingent on a number of regulatory actions, including approval of a lease extension from the State Lands Commission. NRDC’s Oceans Program also has a longstanding interest in ways to minimize and eliminate environmental damage from the plant’s cooling system.

Wind and solar power will be among the renewables to replace nuclear power at the plant. The plant was the first issue on the organization’s agenda and it has been fighting the plant ever since.

“Together with the long transition and the very strong retention package, we will be able to keep these highly trained and motivated workers”, he said. While the specific details of these commitments will unfold in the coming months, the agreement provides a solid foundation and may well serve as a responsible model for handling of complex energy transitions. That left Diablo Canyon as the only operational plant in the state.

The San Francisco-based utility, a subsidiary of PG&E Corp., will withdraw its application to renew the nuclear licenses for the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. Controversy has shrouded the nuclear power plant in the past; the reactors are only 650 yards away from one fault line, and others lie nearby.