State leaders, SLO County stakeholders discuss study analyzing Diablo Canyon closure

On Friday, State experts and lawmakers discussed the findings of a new report outlining the economic impacts of the Diablo Canyon power plant closure in 2025.

There’s good news, and bad news. The good news: the report indicates the closure won’t hurt San Luis Obispo County as previously estimated. The bad news: it’s still a $77 million annual loss for a decade after it shuts down.

Diablo Canyon engineers like Heather Madison will be out of a job when that day comes.

“I’m not very confident that I’ll find an engineering or technical job that fits my skill set. So I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

Madison, who says she’s worked at the plant for more than 11 years, was hoping the UC Berkeley study outlining the economic impact of the plant’s closure would provide a silver lining. For her, it didn’t.

“I’m disappointed. I’d like to see a lot more detail in the assessment,” the co-founder of Mothers for Nuclear says.

Researchers say the Diablo Canyon decommissioning process will cost SLO county nearly 80 million dollars annually –a stark contrast from other estimates saying losses would be $1 billion a year.

UC Berkeley experts say that only represents 0.6% of the county’s annual gross product.

“Which is far below historical rates. Over the past 10 years, SLO County’s [gross product] grew at 4.5%,” one of the report’s author said.

That means the economy will continue growing, just at a slower rate, according to the analysis.

Madison says there are other major components the 144-page study didn’t address, though.

“Waste disposal is one of them. That’s a really expensive process and California doesn’t have any waste disposal sites for stuff that comes from Diablo Canyon.”

She worries all of that will be shipped out of state and will be expensive to do.

A mitigation plan bringing $400 million to San Luis Obispo is in place because of Senate Bill 1090.

“About $85 million will help school districts, and over $300 million is for worker retention,” said State Senator Bill Monning.

Monning, the bill’s sponsor, adds that in spite of PG&E’s bankruptcy declaration, he is confident the resources provided by SB 1090 will alleviate the economic impact.

State leaders point out that the plant’s closure brings other challenges.

“After the sun goes down in California, solar [power] goes to zero, wind dies down,”

said 35th District Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham. “We presently import 36% of our energy from natural gas. So we got real challenges ahead in terms of replacement.”

The study says another hurdle is diversifying economy. Diablo Canyon is the second largest employer in SLO County, creating about 1,500 jobs.

Local leaders are looking to organizations like the Hourglass Project to protect the growth of the economy.

“The Hourglass Project is a regional, action-oriented, private sector led organization to create quality jobs, head-of-household jobs in the Central Coast region from Vandenberg Airforce Base, to Camp Roberts in the north,” said the group’s Vice president of Strategy, Andrew Hackleman.

Hackleman says while the decommissioning process will have a big impact, it isn’t completely responsible for the region’s financial struggles.

“The Diablo Canyon closure is a catalyst for creating the Hourglass Project, but we have an overall lack of these types of jobs and opportunities for our residents.”

UC Berkeley researches note that northern cities like Atascadero or Paso Robles will take the biggest hit.

“The impacts there will be more sizable than on a community such as San Luis Obispo [city], which is a little more diversified,” they said.