Lawsuit challenges $1 billion in federal funding to sustain California’s last nuclear power plant

LOS ANGELES — An environmental group is suing the U.S. Department of Energy over its decision to award more than $1 billion to help keep California’s last nuclear power plant running after its planned shutdown scheduled for 2025. The move opens a new battle front in the battle for the future of Diablo Canyon’s twin reactors.

Friends of the Earth argued in a complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that the prize was awarded to plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric last year was based on an outdated, flawed analysis that failed to recognize the risk of earthquakes or other serious events.

The complaint calls the safety assessment “grossly inadequate” and accuses the Energy Department of relying on a 50-year-old environmental analysis.

“The environmental impacts of extending the life of this aging power plant at this time have not been adequately addressed or disclosed to the public,” the complaint said.

An email seeking comment was sent to the Energy Department.

Diablo Canyon is located on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It came into service in the mid-1980s and provides up to 9% of the state’s electricity on any given day.

In 2016, P.G&E, environmental groups and unions representing factory workers agreed to close the factory by 2025. But the Legislature voided the deal in 2022 after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom reversed his position, saying the power is needed to prevent power outages as the state transitions to renewable energy sources. and climate change is putting pressure on California’s energy system.

Debates have since arisen over the safety of Diablo Canyon’s decades-old reactors, whether taxpayers will be saddled with hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs and even whether the electricity is necessary in the age of solar and other green energy.

PG&E has long said the twin-dome plant is safe, an assessment endorsed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Biden administration approved $1.1 billion in Energy Department funding in January. The funding came through the government’s civilian nuclear credit program, which is intended to bail out financially distressed owners or operators of nuclear reactors as part of the government’s efforts to halve planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2005 level.

PG&E has said it wants to keep the plant open to “ensure statewide electrical reliability and combat climate change” at the state’s direction.

The utility is seeking a 20-year extension of its federal licenses, typical for the industry, but emphasized that the state would determine how long the plant actually runs. A state judge conditionally approved a blueprint to keep it operational for another five years, until 2030.

California is the birthplace of the modern environmental movement and has had a fraught relationship with nuclear power for decades. The battle for Diablo Canyon is playing out as the long-struggling nuclear industry sees a potential rebirth in the age of global warming. Nuclear energy does not cause carbon pollution like fossil fuels, but it does leave behind waste that can remain dangerously radioactive for centuries.