Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s announcement yesterday that it would shutter California’s last nuclear plant and replace the power with energy efficiency and renewable energy was the result of a confluence of progressive state policies, CEO Anthony Earley said. The closure of Diablo Canyon’s two nuclear reactors on California’s central coast in 2024 and 2025 will likely mean the end of nuclear power in the state, due to an existing state moratorium on new plants until the problem of radioactive waste is dealt with permanently. Environmentalists said other states could use the agreement as a template to replace other nuclear and fossil-fueled plants with renewables, especially distributed solar, in order to fight climate change. They pointed to California’s current drought and record-breaking temperatures in Southern California that are causing blackouts and encouraging wildfires. “This is what global warming looks like,” said Dan Jacobson, legislative director for Environment California. “That’s why it’s so important this deal was put forth.”
Scientific American 22nd June 2016 read more »