nuclear-news

Established in 2002, California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard spells out the power sources eligible to count toward the state’s goals to wean itself of fossil fuels. The list includes solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, small hydroelectric facilities and even tidal currents. The standard has been updated, currently calling for 60 percent of California’s electricity to come from renewables by 2030 and 100 percent from carbon-free sources by 2045.

Nuclear power is not part of the portfolio standard and Diablo Canyon — the only remaining nuclear plant in California — is scheduled to stop producing electricity by 2025.

Pacific Gas & Electric, the operators of Diablo Canyon, announced in 2016 an agreement with a collection of environmental and labor groups to shut down the plant. PG&E said Diablo will become uneconomical to run due to changes in California’s power grid — such as growth of renewable energy sources, increased energy efficiency measures and the migration of customers from traditional utilities to community choice energy programs.

But Cunningham thinks the passage of Assembly Bill 2898, which he introduced last week, could give the plant literally a new lease on life……..

When told of Cunningham’s bill, David Weisman, outreach coordinator for the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, said flatly, “Diablo Canyon has become a burdensome, costly nuclear white elephant.”

Critics say nuclear power by definition cannot be considered renewable because it leaves behind waste in the form of spent nuclear fuel that then has to be stored. The federal government has not found a site to deposit the waste that has built up over decades from commercial nuclear power plants……. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/story/2020-03-03/should-california-count-nuclear-power-count-as-renewable