California giant combination utility, San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric, has asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to resume its review of a request to extend the license of the two-unit, Diablo Canyon nuke, located on the coast near San Luis Obispo.
NuclearNewswire noted that PG&E had originally filed a license extension request in 2009, but in March 2018 asked the NRC to withdraw the request, after the utility and the state of California agreed to a shutdown in 2025, when the original license would expire. The NRC agreed a month later.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, already eying a run for governor, along with Gov. Jerry Brown, in 2016 got PG&E to agree to close the two-unit, 2,289-MW Westinghouse pressurized water reactors at the end of 2025. Then, earlier this year and pushed by electric system reliability issues and global warming threats, Newsom agreed to a five-year plan to keep the plant open and award PG&E a “forgivable loan” of $1.4 billion (some might call it a gift) to keep the plant running. The legislature approved the deal and Newsom signed SB 846 in September.
Paula Gerfen, PG&E chief nuclear officer, said, “We are proud of the role Diablo Canyon plays in providing safe, reliable, low-cost and carbon-free energy to our customers and Californians. This request to renew our licenses is another step to help California reliably achieve its bold decarbonization goals.”
Diablo Canyon, which many nuclear observers regard as the most photogenic U.S. nuclear plant, is the result of a process that began in 1963, with PG&E announcing it would build five reactors in southern San Luis Obispo County at Nopomo Dunes. The Sierra Club objected to the site, and in 1965, PG&E agreed to the coastal site, and a scaled back proposal.
Construction began on Unit 1 in April 1968 and Unit 2 in December 1970. PG&E commissioned the units in 1985 and 1986, at a cost, in 2020 dollars, $14.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Baltimore-based Constellation Energy said it will seek 20-year license extensions for two Illinois nuclear stations: Clinton, a single-unit, 1,000-MW General Electric boiling water reactor; and Dresden units 2 and 3, two GE BWRs with total generating capacity of about 1,800-MW. Dresden Unit 1 is retired.
A license extension for Clinton would extend the license to 2047, and Dresden’s extension would be to 2049 and 2051.
Power Engineering magazine commented, “The move marks a reversal in fortune for both power plants, which less than 18 months ago were on a road to early retirement due to unfavorable economics.” An 2021 Illinois law, tainted by allegations of corruption, gave the plants subsidies that made them economically viable. Power Engineering added, “The federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in August includes a nuclear production tax credit aimed at supporting continued operation of the nation’s nuclear fleet for at least nine years.”