I would like to rebut the letter by Julie Mansfield-Wells stating “Diablo must be decommissioned” (Dec. 4).
It was slated to be decommissioned years ago and was ramping down when wiser heads prevailed, realizing there was no substitute for the loss of the power it generated. The operational cost becomes insignificant considering this.
As far as replacing it with a “truly clean” power source, she fails to mention what that is because it doesn’t exist. We can import power from other states, but that makes us beholden to their rates and the fragility of the greatly outdated power grid.
Solar and wind are intermittent and cannot be ramped up in times of need, unlike nuclear. The now decommisioned Morro Bay power plant could do that, but it too is now done. Replacing it with a battery storage facility became a no after what happened in Monterey.
“Toxic waste” is a misnomer. It can be reprocessed and reused. Why that is not now happening is, I believe, a matter of cost. Diablo’s current waste is now stored in a quake-proof structure and is so high up from the ocean that no tsunami could ever touch it. If one does, we have more to worry about than Diablo.
We need the power more than we need the 12,000 acres of land for “tribal and public use.” If there was a reasonable substitute, I believe it would already be in use.
Rex Thornhill
Paso Robles
This article appears in Dec 11-18, 2025.
