LOS ANGELES (CN) — The U.S. Energy Department plans to award $1 billion in federal funding to keep Central California’s aging Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in operation.
An environmental group’s lawsuit to stop the plans appears to be on shaky grounds.
At a hearing Thursday in downtown Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge George Wu, a George W. Bush appointee, expressed reservations about Friends of the Earth’s standing to pursue the case.
No ruling he could issue would change the fact that California wants the plant, he noted. The facility provides 9% of the state’s electricity, and there’s currently not enough renewable energy to meet the state’s climate goals.
California has already loaned PG&E, which owns and operates the nuclear plant, $1.4 billion on the condition the company would seek federal grant money to repay the state. If Wu were to agree with the antinuclear group that the Energy Department is violating National Environmental Policy Act through an outdated environmental analysis, California may very well forgive the loan.
“It the money from California has already come and gone, on what basis do the plaintiffs have standing?” the judge asked the attorneys for Friends of the Earth. “If California and PG&E want to go forward, your client has no say.”
The judge didn’t issue a final decision on the government’s request to dismiss the lawsuit. But he did order PG&E, which he allowed to intervene in the litigation at the hearing, to provide him with a declaration about the state funding it has received and about the terms of the loan.
Founded in 1969 in part to oppose the construction of the nuclear plant on California’s Central Coast, Friends of the Earth argues the Energy Department’s January decision to fund Diablo Canyon went beyond the facility’s previously anticipated shutdown dates of 2024 and 2025. The group said the feds ignored the fact that a 50-year-old environmental analysis used for the decision didn’t contemplate risks beyond those expiration dates.
Even in the best of times, all nuclear reactors carry a risk that an accident will lead to radiation release, potentially at catastrophic levels, according to Friends of Earth.
“Diablo Canyon presents an even riskier case, given a significant lack of maintenance or upgrades at the facility, recent seismic discoveries in the area, and the plant’s use of an [sic] outdated cooling mechanisms,” the group said in its complaint.
The Energy Department asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the group lacks standing. Echoing Wu’s concerns, it said there is no favorable ruling that could redress their purported injuries from the federal government’s award of the grant.
“California will allow the plant to operate,” even if the federal funding is withdrawn, Maggie Woodward, an attorney for the government told the judge. “The information we have shows they’re not intending to reverse course on this.”
While the plant has exceeded its original 40-year operating licenses, PG&E maintains that it’s continually upgraded and undergoes regular inspections by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission — with strong reviews.
The California legislature passed a law in 2022 that directed PG&E to take all “necessary and prudent” actions to extend the nuclear plant’s operations. The plant provides about 17% of the state’s zero-carbon electricity supply, and officials say they should keep it running for another five-year beyond 2025 to improve statewide energy reliability as California transitions away from oil and gas.
