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For critics who have long insisted that nuclear power is inherently dangerous and too expensive, the prospect of delivering a death blow to Diablo is something to relish.

“They try to get people to take a look at them ‘one more time’ just about every other year,” said Phillips. “We don’t consider (nuclear power) as a clean source of energy.”

Nuclear’s critics say the solution is boosting the storage of renewable sources like wind and solar.

The California Public Utilities Commission requires the state’s big three investor-owned utilities to add 1.3 gigawatts of energy storage to their grids by the end of the decade.

“The storage industry is just booming,” said Phillips, adding that greater energy efficiency and conservation can replace nuclear. “You can get to a point where you don’t need to create new, giant energy plants, new, big gas plants or new, big nuclear plants.”

For example, Diablo Canyon sucks in billions of gallons of seawater for its cooling system. Estimates to retrofit the plant to meet state rules implemented after Diablo Canyon was built range anywherefrom $1.6 billion to $14 billion.

“You cannot afford nuclear plants,” said Rochelle Becker, executive director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, based in San Luis Obispo, not far from Diablo Canyon. “If you look at the cost overruns from any new nuclear plant … they are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.”

In Georgia, two brand new Westinghouse reactors being built at the Vogtle Generating Plant by Southern Co. were estimated to cost $14 billion.