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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--California's roadmap to a decarbonized electric future, and the state's entire electricity market, was jolted January 24 after the staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) (Rockville, Maryland) denied a request from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) (San Francisco, California) (San Francisco, California), to resume relicensing proceedings for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station.
PG&E is the owner and operator of Diablo Canyon. The utility originally submitted a license renewal application for the two-unit plant in 2009, but withdrew and terminated it in 2018 pursuant to a deal with California regulators.
The plant supplies about 9% of the state's carbon-free electricity and approximately 15% of California's total electricity, according to PG&E. Closing Diablo Canyon in the middle of this decade, when their licenses expire, would not only slow California's march to a carbon-free electricity future, it might actually cause the lights to go out in the Golden State, given the shrinking electric reserve margins.
The utility, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) (San Francisco, California), is one of the largest in the country, proving electricity and natural gas to about 16 million people across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California.
In rejecting the utility's request, Lauren K. Gibson, chief of the license renewal projects branch in the NRC's office of nuclear reactor regulation, wrote, "Based on NRC regulations, NRC's Principles of Good Regulation, the lack of sufficient information to support your request that the staff resume its review of the withdrawn application, and the lack of relevant precedent to support that request, the NRC staff will not initiate or resume the review of the withdrawn Diablo Canyon Power Plant application."
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Plant Database can click here for the Diablo Canyon plant profile.
Gibson's letter noted that PG&E's last required annual update on Diablo Canyon was filed in December 2015. The relicensing application needs additional information "addressing material new information and guidance updates since the cessation of the staff's review for both the safety and environmental reviews," she wrote, adding: "It would not be effective or efficient for the NRC staff to start the (license renewal) review without this new information."
In a statement provided by Carina Corra, a PG&E spokesperson, the utility said it "intends to submit a new (relicensing) application by the end of 2023. PG&E's project plan considered this regulatory path, and we have been developing application materials and supporting documents to support a filing with the NRC later this year."
The statement continued: "Diablo Canyon Power Plant continues to operate as a safe, reliable and clean energy resource for California, and PG&E remains committed to complying with current legislative policy to ensure the state has the option to keep DCPP online to ensure electrical reliability as California continues toward its clean energy future."
In a 2016 deal with the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E agreed to close the two-unit, 2,255-megawatt (MW) plant when the licenses for Unit 1 and Unit 2 expire in 2024 and 2025, respectively. For more on that agreement, see July 20, 2016, article - Diablo Canyon Proposal: A Turning Point for the U.S. Nuclear Industry?
To implement that agreement, the utility formally withdrew its application to relicense the units in 2018.
Everything changed last September, after several summers of sweltering heat, electric emergencies, a series of state regulator-supported "public safety power shutoffs" and a few unsanctioned rotating blackouts, when Governor Gavin Newsom and the state legislature did an about-face on relicensing Diablo Canyon. Touting the state's need for the plant's carbon-free electric generation, lawmakers passed and the governor signed into law Senate Bill 846, which committed the state to back PG&E's effort to relicense the plant. The law would keep both units operating through 2030. For more on that, see September 7, 2022, article - California Backs Life Extension for Diablo Canyon.
Last October, following enactment of California Senate Bill 846, the utility asked the NRC to simply resume its review of the license renewal application it filed in 2009 and terminated in 2018. The January 24 letter from the NRC turned down that request.
"This decision does not prohibit you from resubmitting your license renewal application under oath and affirmation, referencing information previously submitted, and providing any updated or new information to support the staff's review," the NRC said in its letter.
It can take five years or more to relicense a nuclear power plant. Nuclear units can continue operating past the end of their license providing the operator submitted a license renewal at least five years prior to the expiration of the license.
PG&E also asked the NRC to grant a waiver from that five-year advance notice requirement. The commission said it would decide on that request in March.
U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) said he was pleased with the NRC's decision. As reported by the San Luis Obispo Tribune, he wrote, "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision ... reflects the need for thorough review before approving additional years of operation beyond its current license. This ruling affirms that corners cannot be cut when it comes to nuclear safety."
The enactment of Senate Bill 846 included a forgivable loan of $1.4 billion to support the utility's effort to relicense Diablo Canyon. Shortly after that, the Biden administration announced the utility would receive $1.1 billion of conditional financial support through the $6 billion Civilian Nuclear Credit program that was part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act President Joe Biden signed into law in late 2022. That program was designed to keep open financially struggling nuclear plants.
Controversy has swirled around Diablo Canyon, which began operating in the mid-1980s. For decades, environmental organizations have sought to close the plant under a variety of premises.
In a statement praising the NRC's decision, Caroline Leary, an attorney for the Environmental Working Group (EWG) (Washington, D.C.) said, "It's not too late for the California Legislature to redirect the billion dollars slated for revival of these unsafe and uneconomical reactors to the support of safe and renewable alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power, energy efficiency and load management."
"PG&E may not be familiar with hearing 'no' from its captive regulators in California," she continued, "but it's clear the professional staff at the NRC takes its oversight role and the safety of the communities surrounding Diablo Canyon seriously."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
PG&E is the owner and operator of Diablo Canyon. The utility originally submitted a license renewal application for the two-unit plant in 2009, but withdrew and terminated it in 2018 pursuant to a deal with California regulators.
The plant supplies about 9% of the state's carbon-free electricity and approximately 15% of California's total electricity, according to PG&E. Closing Diablo Canyon in the middle of this decade, when their licenses expire, would not only slow California's march to a carbon-free electricity future, it might actually cause the lights to go out in the Golden State, given the shrinking electric reserve margins.
The utility, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) (San Francisco, California), is one of the largest in the country, proving electricity and natural gas to about 16 million people across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California.
In rejecting the utility's request, Lauren K. Gibson, chief of the license renewal projects branch in the NRC's office of nuclear reactor regulation, wrote, "Based on NRC regulations, NRC's Principles of Good Regulation, the lack of sufficient information to support your request that the staff resume its review of the withdrawn application, and the lack of relevant precedent to support that request, the NRC staff will not initiate or resume the review of the withdrawn Diablo Canyon Power Plant application."
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Plant Database can click here for the Diablo Canyon plant profile.
Gibson's letter noted that PG&E's last required annual update on Diablo Canyon was filed in December 2015. The relicensing application needs additional information "addressing material new information and guidance updates since the cessation of the staff's review for both the safety and environmental reviews," she wrote, adding: "It would not be effective or efficient for the NRC staff to start the (license renewal) review without this new information."
In a statement provided by Carina Corra, a PG&E spokesperson, the utility said it "intends to submit a new (relicensing) application by the end of 2023. PG&E's project plan considered this regulatory path, and we have been developing application materials and supporting documents to support a filing with the NRC later this year."
The statement continued: "Diablo Canyon Power Plant continues to operate as a safe, reliable and clean energy resource for California, and PG&E remains committed to complying with current legislative policy to ensure the state has the option to keep DCPP online to ensure electrical reliability as California continues toward its clean energy future."
In a 2016 deal with the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E agreed to close the two-unit, 2,255-megawatt (MW) plant when the licenses for Unit 1 and Unit 2 expire in 2024 and 2025, respectively. For more on that agreement, see July 20, 2016, article - Diablo Canyon Proposal: A Turning Point for the U.S. Nuclear Industry?
To implement that agreement, the utility formally withdrew its application to relicense the units in 2018.
Everything changed last September, after several summers of sweltering heat, electric emergencies, a series of state regulator-supported "public safety power shutoffs" and a few unsanctioned rotating blackouts, when Governor Gavin Newsom and the state legislature did an about-face on relicensing Diablo Canyon. Touting the state's need for the plant's carbon-free electric generation, lawmakers passed and the governor signed into law Senate Bill 846, which committed the state to back PG&E's effort to relicense the plant. The law would keep both units operating through 2030. For more on that, see September 7, 2022, article - California Backs Life Extension for Diablo Canyon.
Last October, following enactment of California Senate Bill 846, the utility asked the NRC to simply resume its review of the license renewal application it filed in 2009 and terminated in 2018. The January 24 letter from the NRC turned down that request.
"This decision does not prohibit you from resubmitting your license renewal application under oath and affirmation, referencing information previously submitted, and providing any updated or new information to support the staff's review," the NRC said in its letter.
It can take five years or more to relicense a nuclear power plant. Nuclear units can continue operating past the end of their license providing the operator submitted a license renewal at least five years prior to the expiration of the license.
PG&E also asked the NRC to grant a waiver from that five-year advance notice requirement. The commission said it would decide on that request in March.
U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) said he was pleased with the NRC's decision. As reported by the San Luis Obispo Tribune, he wrote, "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision ... reflects the need for thorough review before approving additional years of operation beyond its current license. This ruling affirms that corners cannot be cut when it comes to nuclear safety."
The enactment of Senate Bill 846 included a forgivable loan of $1.4 billion to support the utility's effort to relicense Diablo Canyon. Shortly after that, the Biden administration announced the utility would receive $1.1 billion of conditional financial support through the $6 billion Civilian Nuclear Credit program that was part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act President Joe Biden signed into law in late 2022. That program was designed to keep open financially struggling nuclear plants.
Controversy has swirled around Diablo Canyon, which began operating in the mid-1980s. For decades, environmental organizations have sought to close the plant under a variety of premises.
In a statement praising the NRC's decision, Caroline Leary, an attorney for the Environmental Working Group (EWG) (Washington, D.C.) said, "It's not too late for the California Legislature to redirect the billion dollars slated for revival of these unsafe and uneconomical reactors to the support of safe and renewable alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power, energy efficiency and load management."
"PG&E may not be familiar with hearing 'no' from its captive regulators in California," she continued, "but it's clear the professional staff at the NRC takes its oversight role and the safety of the communities surrounding Diablo Canyon seriously."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
