Now, practically six years after the choice to shut California’s final nuclear energy plant —  the two,240-megawatt Diablo Canyon facility — Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’s contemplating making use of for federal funding that might preserve it open previous its scheduled 2025 closure. It’s a transfer, he mentioned, that would keep away from rolling blackouts and energy shortages because the state transitions to renewables and braces for extra excessive warmth, wildfires, drought and floods. 

Newsom has till Might 19 to use for the funding and would wish the power’s proprietor, Pacific Gasoline & Electrical, to get on board, too. Some consultants say if Diablo Canyon is shut down, there’s a great likelihood state officers shall be scrambling to switch the misplaced megawatts. 

So what ought to Californians know concerning the state’s reliance on nuclear energy? Listed here are 5 key takeaways:

Perched on California’s gusty Central Coast, Diablo Canyon has been supplying energy to the state’s electrical grid since 1985. However the plant close to San Luis Obispo has been battered by controversy the complete time. 

Just some years into development, PG&E discovered the positioning was close to a number of seismic fault strains. That spurred lawsuits and big, statewide protests, culminating within the largest arrest within the historical past of the nation’s anti-nuclear motion. Regardless of the opposition, the plant was accomplished.

In the present day, the power employs about 1,500 staff. Its 2,240 megawatts of electrical energy era is roughly sufficient to assist the wants of greater than 3 million individuals, based on PG&E. 

Nuclear energy accounted for 9.3% of California’s electrical energy in 2020; pure gasoline was by far the first supply at about 37%, based on the California Vitality Fee.

Most of California’s nuclear vitality is generated by Diablo Canyon, but it surely additionally imports nuclear-powered electrical energy from Arizona and Washington state, based on the California Vitality Fee.  

Twenty-eight states have at the least one business nuclear reactor. However some are also dealing with attainable closure within the many years to return.

Twelve business reactors have closed prior to now decade, together with in New York, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Iowa. But Oregon-based NuScale Energy not too long ago gained approval to construct take a look at reactors in Idaho in 2029 and 2030.

California imports extra electrical energy than some other state — about 30% of its provide in 2020, together with some from coal-fired vegetation which are larges sources of greenhouse gases, based on the California Vitality Fee. 

In 2016 PG&E introduced plans to completely shutter Diablo Canyon, noting that the transition to renewable vitality would make continued operations too pricey. The California Public Utilities Fee accepted the closure in 2018, after the utility reached a settlement settlement with advocacy teams and environmentalists. One reactor is slated to shut in 2024, adopted by the second in 2025.

Confronted with a possible energy crunch as local weather change ravages the state, Newsom mentioned PG&E ought to contemplate making use of for $6 billion in federal funds that the Biden administration put aside to rescue nuclear vegetation from closing. 

However the prospect of maintaining it open may face quite a few technical, monetary and logistical hurdles.

PG&E and the Nuclear Regulatory Commision, which points the licenses to maintain the plant working, must expedite the renewal course of in time for the quickly-approaching shutdown. 

PG&E didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark. In a press release to CalMatters, the CPUC mentioned “all choices are on the desk.” 

“Electrical energy reliability for California is a most important precedence,” mentioned spokesperson Terrie Prosper. “Extending the operation of Diablo Canyon would require examination by the CPUC.” 

PG&E additionally must deal with getting old infrastructure issues and make investments to adjust to the state’s water-cooling laws, based on Matthew Freedman, a workers lawyer with The Utility Reform Community, a shopper advocacy group.

Delaying the closure may doubtlessly be costlier for ratepayers. A greater various can be to enhance the state’s vitality storage capability for renewable vitality, he mentioned. 

“For the reason that continued operation of Diablo Canyon may show to be very costly, any proposal to maintain the plant alive should be accompanied by binding price containment and protections for ratepayers,” Freedman mentioned. “PG&E’s charges have already been skyrocketing and we wish to do every little thing we will to convey it down. So we’re undoubtedly in opposition to any proposal that might give PG&E a clean verify.”

Nuclear vitality is generated from splitting uranium atoms in a reactor. This course of, referred to as fission, produces steam that’s then utilized by generators to create electrical energy. The result’s a dependable, 24/7 vitality provide. However working the plant nonetheless has penalties for communities and the setting. 

Nuclear vegetation require water as a cooling mechanism to stop them from overheating. That water is commonly launched again into the ocean at a a lot increased temperature that would injury marine habitats. 

And whereas energy vegetation don’t produce greenhouse gases, they do produce a poisonous byproduct: spent nuclear gasoline, which should be disposed of safely.

Opponents of nuclear vitality argue that folks of colour, together with Black, Latino and Native American communities, are particularly susceptible to hurt from mining uranium in addition to the disposal and storage of radioactive waste. Corporations that function these vegetation have lengthy used ancestral native lands and different areas close to deprived communities to supply supplies and retailer spent gasoline, mentioned Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist with Greenpeace. 

Critics of Diablo Canyon additionally say the facility’s infrastructure is outdated and flawed. Burnie mentioned the specter of earthquakes is a high concern. The 2011 nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima was attributable to an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

As a substitute, he mentioned the state ought to abandon the thought of maintaining the plant open, focusing solely on renewable vitality initiatives and decentralizing the facility grid.  

“It’s an entire distraction, it’s infuriating,” Burnie mentioned. “That is about saving an embattled nuclear trade — it’s not about saving the local weather.” 

“Our view is that zero-carbon assets are the alternative for Diablo Canyon and we don’t assume extra fossil gasoline era is required,” Freedman mentioned. “That being mentioned, we perceive that there are challenges with reliability that policymakers are attempting to handle.”

Diablo Canyon has performed an important position in offering carbon-free vitality and sustaining the reliability of California’s energy grid, mentioned Jacopo Buongiorno, a professor at MIT’s division of nuclear science and engineering. With out it, Buongiorno mentioned, it will likely be tough to fulfill demand as intensifying climate patterns more and more pressure the grid. He mentioned the state must depend on all types of renewable and carbon-free sources, together with nuclear vitality, to attain carbon-neutrality by 2045. 

“Given the magnitude of the problem that we’re dealing with when it comes to decarbonizing and mitigating local weather change, I’d argue that we should always use extra nuclear vitality, we should always use extra photo voltaic and extra wind,” he mentioned. “Every little thing that doesn’t emit carbon dioxide ought to be on the desk.”

Buongiorno acknowledged security and nuclear waste considerations, however described the dangers as minimal in comparison with the detrimental results that fossil gasoline emissions have on the setting and heavily-polluted communities. He mentioned the storage of nuclear gasoline can be extremely regulated and dealt with in a “protected, efficient method” with using dry solid storage. 

If Diablo Canyon had been to shut, sustaining a carbon-neutral grid by 2045 would require extra vitality storage — at the least 18 gigawatts of solar energy, based on a joint 2021 Stanford and MIT research co-led by Buongiorno. To construct these photo voltaic services, the state would wish about 90,000 acres of land in comparison with the 900-acre Diablo Canyon web site. Discovering that out there area could possibly be a problem as a result of an government order requiring the state to protect 30% of its pure and coastal lands by 2030. 

The research discovered that maintaining Diablo Canyon open may save an estimated $2.6 billion in energy system prices from 2025 to 2035. The worth of pure gasoline has risen not too long ago, so current nuclear energy vegetation are typically extra aggressive, Buongiorno mentioned.

The price of electrical energy from photo voltaic and battery storage is increased than the price of Diablo Canyon alone, “so there are financial savings merely from working a less expensive asset,” he mentioned. 

Excluding the worth of nuclear gasoline, PG&E spent $1.2 billion in 2021 to function Diablo Canyon.

Steven Chu, a Stanford College physics professor and the vitality secretary through the Obama administration, mentioned the state ought to be making each effort to scale back its reliance on fossil fuels. Closing Diablo Canyon would solely gradual that transition, he mentioned.

“Nuclear energy could also be definitely the lesser of two evils in comparison with maintaining oil and pure gasoline vegetation,” he mentioned. “You’ll be able to’t wave a magic wand and say we go 100% wind and photo voltaic as a result of they’re intermittent. It’s straightforward to go from zero to 50%. It’s a lot tougher to go from 50 to 75% and practically not possible to get to 100%.”