Ninth Circuit clears way for Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant license extension

(CN) — The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant's new lease on life cleared another hurdle on Monday when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a challenge to a license extension granted by the federal government.

The three nonprofits who sued to halt the extension decried the ruling and said they would consider asking for an en banc review of the unanimous decision.

Environmental Working Group's chief counsel Caroline Leary said in a statement that California officials and the owner of the nuclear plant, Pacific Gas & Electric were "recklessly gambling with Diablo Canyon, endangering the health and safety of countless individuals."

"We’ll explore all avenues to reverse the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission's] irresponsible decision," she said, "refusing to let the agency skirt crucial and required safety reviews in its misguided bid to prolong the operation of this deteriorating nuclear plant."

With two nuclear reactors overlooking the Pacific Ocean on California's central coast, the plant has generated controversy since before it even opened in 1985. Today, it is the state's largest single power station and California's last remaining nuclear power pant.

For years, PG&E had been planning on shutting down the two Diablo canyon reactors in 2024 and 2025, and had not applied to an extension of its license with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But in 2022, state lawmakers realized they still needed Diablo Canyon in order to meet its clean energy goals, at least for a while. The California State Legislature passed a bill to extend the plant's life for up to another five years and loaned PG&E $1.4 billion to pay for some upgrades. It also exempted Diablo Canyon from environmental review.

The Environmental Working Group and two other groups, Mothers for Peace and Friends of the Earth, sued the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which had found there was no risk to public safety in extending the plant's license for another five years.

In an opinion authored by U.S. Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee, the three-judge panel found that the NRC had not acted arbitrarily nor capriciously; the agency "adequately explained why California’s changing energy needs constitute a special circumstance, and why the record supported its findings of no undue risk to the public health and safety."

The panel was rounded out by U.S. Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, a Donald Trump appointee, and Judge Gary Katzmann, a judge for the U.S. Court of International Trade sitting by designation.

Diablo Canyon's critics have long warned of the plant's proximity to multiple earthquake fault lines, as well as its age.

California officials have painted the five-year extension of the plant's life as a temporary measure and a necessary stop-gap to avoid power outages during weeks of high energy demand. When he signed the 2022 bill that authorized the $1.4 billion loan, California Governor Gavin Newsom said it would "provide an onramp for more clean energy projects to come online."

And when the California Public Utilities Commission approved the five-year extension last year, one of the commissioners, Karen Douglas, told the Los Angeles Times, “The short-term extension of the power plant as proposed is a transitional strategy to help California weather the challenges of the energy transition, including the weather and climate extremes that we have experienced."

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