NRC grants exemption to allow Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant to operate while renewal application is under review

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif.– The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted an exemption to PG&E to allow the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant to continue operations while its license renewal application is under a review.

The NRC exemption allows the power plant to, not only remain operational while its license application is under review, but gives PG&E a year to provide updated documents needed to expand operations for another two decades.

Reviews of license renewal applications last an average of 22 months and is required five-year prior to the plants expiration date, but due to 2018 decommissioning efforts PG&E missed its deadlines.

This exemption allows PG&E to update its original 2009 license renewal application past its original deadlines.

Both power plant units 1 & 2 will remain operational until its November 2024 and August 2025 expiration date.

Governor Newsom visited the power plant Mar. 1 and believes it can be a viable energy source.

"As we experienced during the record heat wave last September, climate change-driven extreme events are causing unprecedented stress on our power grid – the Diablo Canyon Power Plant is important to support energy reliability as we accelerate progress towards achieving our clean energy and climate goals. I look forward to our continued work with the Biden-Harris Administration and the Legislature to build a reliable and resilient clean electric system.”

While the group SLO Mothers for Peace and opponents to the activation of the Diablo Canyon Power Planet say the "NRC, in its bow to PG&E, completely ignored its own rules, with far reaching implications for all its safety standards."

“The NRC calls the exemption a mere ‘administrative’ decision, as if it were choosing paper clip sizes. There is nothing ‘administrative’ about allowing this aging reactor duo to continue running for days, months or years when each day of operation poses the risk of an accident that could devastate the entire state and beyond," said Lead Attorney for San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace Diane Curran. 

The group notes the blatant safety concerns pointing out in a statement the decision disregards previous NRC statements.

"The NRC’s own rules recognize that continued operation of a reactor past the 40-year statutory limit poses safety risks that are different from operational risks during the facility’s first 40 years in operation and require a separate review."

Another attorney for SLO Mothers for Peace Sabrina Venskus noted “there are conspicuous holes in the CEC’s analysis.”