Ratepayer advocacy group the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility is scheduled to go before the California Public Utilities Commission July 7 in San Francisco to request that the state regulator deny Pacific Gas & Electric’s request to use customer money to fund its relicensing efforts for Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
PG&E is asking the CPUC to authorize $85 million in ratepayer funding to pay for the relicensing of Diablo’s two reactors, which are currently set to expire in 2024 and 2025.
Other regulatory agencies and state lawmakers, however, have said high-tech, three-dimensional seismic studies should be completed and independently peer-reviewed before the plant is allowed a new license.
Rochelle Becker, executive director of the Alliance, told New Times she hopes the CPUC will dismiss the utility’s application until the seismic studies are completed and peer-reviewed.
This article appears in Jul 7-14, 2011.