It wasn\u2019t supposed to be this way. A decade ago, the plant\u2019s operator, Pacific Gas & Electric, agreed to methodically<\/a> shut down Diablo\u2019s reactors in 2025, replacing its 2.2 gigawatts of power with a portfolio of wind farms, solar arrays, battery storage and just plain using less electricity.<\/p>\n But as that deadline neared, state officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, waved a white flag<\/a>. They weren\u2019t ready to shut down an energy source that consistently provides up to 9% of California\u2019s electricity. They extended its life to 2030. <\/p>\n Now there\u2019s a growing movement to extend Diablo\u2019s life once again \u2014 this time to 2045. Nearly 50 groups have joined a coalition<\/a> that includes chambers of commerce, labor unions, nonprofits and the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors to argue that the plant is a critical bridge to the state\u2019s clean energy future. Nuclear power produces no greenhouse gas emissions, the primary driver of climate change.<\/p>\n License instructor Dan Stermer gives a tour of a simulated control room identical to the actual control room at Diablo Canyon Power Plant on July 31. It\u2019s used to train operators and practice emergency response. <\/p>\n Opponents of the plant, many of whom live in the area, are livid and say it is the latest in a string of broken promises. Extending the plant\u2019s life through 2045 means 15 more years of nuclear waste and seismic risk as the 1980s-era plant gets older and more brittle.<\/p>\n Experts say the abrupt about-face on California\u2019s once-heralded nuclear exit<\/a> reflects a broader trend as the state grapples with an electricity future almost no one saw coming. <\/p>\n Like the rest of the nation, California has seen a remarkable explosion in demand for electricity, driven in large part by the rise of artificial intelligence data centers, electric vehicles and building electrification. The California Energy Commission projects that demand for electricity<\/a> will increase by roughly 50% through 2045 after decades of remaining relatively flat.<\/p>\n At the same time, the state is legally mandated to switch entirely to 100% carbon-free energy by 2045<\/a>, meaning it must produce more electricity while simultaneously cleaning up the electricity it produces. <\/p>\n The question of how California is going to make major emissions reductions while keeping electricity affordable and reliable \u201cstarts in the 2030s and goes all the way to 2045,\u201d said David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at UC San Diego. \u201cAnd shutting down Diablo in the middle of all that was always going to be a stretch.\u201d <\/p>\n It\u2019s a conversation happening across the United States. Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania \u2014 the site of the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history \u2014 is slated to reopen in 2027<\/a> as part of a 20-year deal to power Microsoft data centers. The Duane Arnold plant in Iowa will start back up in 2029<\/a>, nine years after its closure, to help power data centers for Google.<\/p>\n In California, extending Diablo\u2019s life through 2045 requires an act of the Legislature, and Newsom has punted the question<\/a> to the next administration. But the plant\u2019s federal license, which was renewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission<\/a> in April, technically gives it permission to power on until 2045, when it would be 60 years old.<\/p>\n 1 <\/p>\n 2 <\/p>\n 1. Pacific Gas & Electric operates the power plant. 2. Spent nuclear fuel is stored in lead and stainless steel casks and bolted into concrete at a specially built pad at Diablo. <\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense to go through that process of extension and only do it for five years,\u201d Victor said. He said he wouldn\u2019t be surprised if PG&E requests another 20-year extension down the road, because there are \u201cseveral reactors in the country that already have 80-year licenses, and there may be life even beyond that.\u201d <\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say California hasn\u2019t made great gains in renewables. The state has added an impressive amount of solar power and battery energy storage<\/a> in recent years, surpassing more than 21,000 megawatts of battery capacity, the largest such fleet in the nation,<\/a> according to the Energy Commission. It used more solar than natural gas during the first half of 2026 for the first time.<\/p>\n But the grid is missing round-the-clock power to replace Diablo Canyon, said Conor Doyle, chief of strategic initiatives at PG&E, during a recent tour of the plant.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have an abundance of renewables, and we\u2019re doing good with procurement, but the sun sets, the wind doesn\u2019t blow, and that\u2019s where reliability and stability come into question,\u201d Doyle said. He noted that there is \u201cnot one electron\u201d of always-on power, sometimes referred to as baseload, in the California Independent System Operator\u2019s interconnection queue. <\/p>\n In his opinion, if Diablo were to shut down in 2030 as currently scheduled, it would largely be replaced with natural gas.<\/p>\n Arne Olson, a senior partner with Energy and Environmental Economics who consults on California\u2019s energy planning, said replacing the plant with clean energy may have looked \u201ceminently doable in 2016,\u201d and is probably feasible today. But it becomes much more challenging as the state gets closer to its 2045 target, when the entire grid must be clean. <\/p>\n Offshore wind power, a complement to solar because it blows overnight, is lagging in California in the face of powerful political opposition. While the state had been aiming for 2 to 5 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, none has yet been built, and the Trump administration recently struck deals<\/a> with three of the state\u2019s offshore wind leaseholders to walk away from their plans and instead invest in fossil fuel projects.<\/p>\n 1 <\/p>\n 2 <\/p>\n 3 <\/p>\n 1. Jane Swanson, a board member of Mothers for Peace, waits to speak during public comment following a hearing for extending the operation of Diablo on July 30. 2. Signs placed along a service road warn of the presence of the federally threatened California red-legged frog at Diablo. 3. Heather Hoff, a 23-year employee at the plant, said she \u201ccould not imagine a scenario where California simply did not need the emission-free electricity from Diablo Canyon,\u201d adding that nuclear energy is powerful, robust, clean and safe. <\/p>\n Geothermal, which involves tapping into Earth\u2019s underground heat to spin turbines, looks a lot like nuclear in that it can produce clean electricity 24 hours a day. But it\u2019s not yet clear how many geothermal megawatts are available, and few projects are ready, Olson said. <\/p>\n And replacing Diablo\u2019s steady power with a combination of solar and batteries would be technically possible but increasingly expensive, particularly during the periods of highest demand, he said. <\/p>\n The difficulty and expense of the various alternatives increases \u201cthe attractiveness of a resource that\u2019s already operating and producing clean energy around the clock,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n But some experts say keeping Diablo online is actually slowing the growth of renewable energy in California. The plant cannot be turned off during periods of high solar power production, so the state ends up cutting back on its solar power or giving it away for free, said Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. <\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s become like an inflexible albatross that causes a lot of waste of electricity,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Jacobson said the state can \u2014 and should \u2014 shut Diablo Canyon down on time and still meet its climate goals through a combination of wind, geothermal, rooftop solar and imported supplies. He pointed to the massive SunZia wind farm in New Mexico<\/a>, which recently came online and is already sending clean electricity to California\u2019s grid, and a major Google-backed geothermal project underway in Utah<\/a> that aims to supply 500 megawatts by 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing necessary about keeping it open,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Some who live in the shadow of Diablo Canyon say a 2045 extension feels increasingly inevitable. At a recent information session hosted by the county, about half of the people who delivered public comments were in favor of keeping the plant open, and half were vehemently opposed. <\/p>\n Among them were plant employees who said they can\u2019t imagine a world in which California doesn\u2019t need Diablo\u2019s electricity, and environmental groups who said they\u2019re concerned about threats to marine life.<\/a> Diablo Canyon uses 2.5 billion gallons of ocean water for cooling each day, discharging hot water directly into the nearby cove.<\/p>\n Others worry about a Fukushima- or Chernobyl-style meltdown. The plant sits near more than a dozen earthquake fault lines.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a low probability, but the consequences are so enormous that you\u2019ve got to factor it in,\u201d said Jane Swanson, president of Mothers for Peace, a San Luis Obispo-based nonprofit, in a recent phone call.<\/p>\n She and the group\u2019s vice president, Linda Seeley, question PG&E\u2019s arguments for keeping Diablo open, noting that plant officials often point to the rolling blackouts of 2020<\/a> as evidence that the state still needs nuclear to meet peak demand. But California hasn\u2019t seen rolling blackouts since that year in large part due to its massive increase in battery energy storage, Seeley said. <\/p>\n The push to extend Diablo Canyon\u2019s life, she contends, \u201chas nothing to do with whether we need the power. It has everything to do with money, and it has everything to do with political will.\u201d<\/p>\n Maureen Zawalick, senior vice president of PG&E, talks about the safety and productivity of Diablo. She said the plant provides electricity to 4 million people. <\/p>\n Plant officials maintain that Diablo is safe and subject to constant seismic studies and layers of redundancies to prevent a nuclear meltdown. Its major components, including reactor vessel heads, steam generator parts and low-pressure and high-pressure turbines, were all recently updated as part of the 2030 extension, said Maureen Zawalick, chief risk officer at PG&E. <\/p>\n She said the facility has the capacity for at least 60 years of nuclear waste storage \u2014 including 40 years in dry concrete casks and 20 years in spent fuel pools \u2014 which would carry it right up to 2045, although she is optimistic about the prospects of a federal fuel repository offsite.<\/p>\n Asked if there\u2019s any scenario in which a 2045 extension doesn\u2019t make sense, Zawalick said no. Given the forecast for future electricity usage and demand, \u201cDiablo is in a unique situation and position to provide and support that,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n For now, the ball is in the Legislature\u2019s court. <\/p>\n Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), whose district includes Diablo Canyon, said in a statement<\/a> last week that he\u2019s not surprised Newsom has pushed the question to next year. Important issues must be addressed before any decisions are made, including PG&E\u2019s repayment of an existing state loan<\/a>, seismic and nuclear reactor safety, spent fuel storage and continued revenues to local government and schools, Laird said. <\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to having the opportunity in 2027, over a full nine-month legislative session, to thoughtfully consider Diablo Canyon\u2019s future and ensure that the community is protected during any additional years of operation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Diablo Canyon doesn\u2019t look like a nuclear power plant that\u2019s getting ready to retire. Beneath…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,14775,27968,15511,7501,7244,29233,1637,53159,3604,3730,4840,8078,7827,315],"class_list":["post-434466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-demand","tag-diablo-canyon","tag-electricity","tag-extension","tag-group","tag-large-part","tag-life","tag-more-year","tag-pge","tag-plant","tag-power","tag-renewable","tag-state-official","tag-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Diablo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786876329_383_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Diablo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786876329_613_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Spent](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786876330_760_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786876330_558_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Signs](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786876330_323_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Heather](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786876330_919_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Senior](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786876331_50_.jpeg\")
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