California planned a nuclear exit. Now it's reconsidering

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Set us as preferred SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Diablo Canyon doesn’t look like a nuclear power plant that’s getting ready to retire.Beneath its twin concrete domes here on the edge of the Central Coast, neutrons slam into uranium atoms billions of times each second, workers respond to blinking lights in a seafoam-green control room, and thunderous turbines generate steady electricity for nearly 4 million Californians.At the building’s entrance, a massive banner celebrates the plant’s recently renewed federal operating license, proclaiming “You Made This Possible” above a photograph of smiling staffers.It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

A decade ago, the plant’s operator, Pacific Gas & Electric, agreed to methodically shut down Diablo’s 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.But as that deadline neared, state officials, including Gov.Gavin Newsom, waved a white flag.

They weren’t ready to shut down an energy source that consistently provides up to 9% of California’s electricity.They extended its life to 2030.

Now there’s a growing movement to extend Diablo’s life once again — this time to 2045.Nearly 50 groups have joined a coalition 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’s clean energy future.

Nuclear power produces no greenhouse gas emissions, the primary driver of climate change.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’s life through 2045 means 15 more years of nuclear waste and seismic risk as the 1980s-era plant gets older and more brittle...