Will Gov. Newsom turn his back on the residents, businesses, economy, and environment of the Central Coast for $6 billion from the federal government? The stakes are high on his proposed application for this handout to Diablo Canyon, the last standing nuclear generating plant in California.
He is willing to spend this money propping up an old, outdated, problem-ridden earthquake-straddling dinosaur instead of investing in the future and present answers to truly clean energy generation. Bottom line is ratepayers always end up paying. PG&E is applying once again for a rate raise.
The joint settlement agreement of 2018 on decommissioning Diablo Canyon gave PG&E until 2024 and 2025 to work toward safe decommissioning. Their plans to develop and distribute wind, solar, and other clean energy that doesn’t leave tens of thousands of tons of high-level radioactive waste for future generations to secure would be a welcome change in their portfolio. Keeping Diablo boiling water with radioactive elements is a roadblock to green energy.
Marty Brown
Atascadero
This article appears in Best of SLO County 2022.
I’ll be decades before all the replacement alternative energy sources are developed and built, leaving us even more dependent upon fossil fuel. During those decades, countless additional tons of carbon will be dumped into the atmosphere, which we are told will have a catastrophic impact on the planet. We need to make difficult and pragmatic choices.
No other single source, can produce energy at the efficient and high levels, as nuclear power. Dams fill thousands of acres. Solar covers thousands of acres. Wind towers blight thousands of acres. Gas and coal must be burned in other states for California.
Every horrific prediction for Diablo from the anti-nuke crowd since 1970, have proven to be fantasies. Keep it open, clean, green and sorely needed.
Not only should the existing nuclear power plants remain open but investment in new technology for mini nuclear power plants be developed and put into use.
Technology for nuclear power and desalination needs to be studied and used as soon as possible. We need power and water to survive and thinking solar panels using toxic materials is better than nuclear is wrong, Solar and wind is not the solution. They use poisons and will have poisons to dispose us as they need replacing.
Nuclear power is the only long time solution for a society dependent on power. The world is either using lots of power or needs to have lots of power to join the world economy and survive.
Desalination is the only long term solution to our water needs. If we go with desalination, the rest of the state might get by with snow run off and rain. If not, we can sell water to the central valley farmers.
It really amazes me how many people have bought the lies of the nuclear industry!!!
It amazes me how many people have been so conditioned to hate nuclear power that they are unable to consider the topic pragmatically. Where will the power to replace Diablo Canyon come from? What will be the impact of that power on the environment?