The anti-nuclear activist whose dreams were just dashed

Sep 07, 2022 View in browser   By Debra Kahn VERBATIM You won't find many more dismayed at Diablo Canyon's extension than Rochelle Becker. | Courtesy Rochelle Becker Rochelle Becker has been trying to close Diablo Canyon since before it opened. The executive director of the San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility has been raising safety and cost arguments against Pacific Gas & Electric's nuclear plant on the central California coast for 45 years, largely about the risk of an earthquake causing a release of radiation. Becker seemed to have achieved her goal in 2016, when PG&E and the labor union representing plant employees agreed to close it by 2025. But California's electricity grid woes proved too potent a political liability for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who pushed through a bill last week to keep the plant open until 2030 and lend it $1.4 billion in order to enable PG&E to apply for a federal loan. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What's the main objection to keeping Diablo open? Before it opened, it was seismic [concerns] and the reverse blueprint error. Emergency planning was a concern. What is keeping the plant safe going to cost, and is this the best use of our money? It's just a bad place to build a nuclear plant. [Now], seismic is the No. 1 issue, followed closely by aging components and maintenance. They probably did not do the maintenance that would be needed to keep the plant running for another 5, 10, 20 years. They were in closure mode, where you put Band-Aids on a cut rather than take it in and fix it. We don't know how much delayed maintenance there is out there, but we do know there is some of it. When did you first start getting wind of the plan to keep it open? The beginning of the year. At first we thought, 'There's no way they can do that, they'd have to overturn several California laws.' Then May came, and the change of DOE regulations came, and the governor's language came, and we thought we'd better be playing closer attention to this. We met with some of the governor's staff in the beginning of August and raised several questions and challenged several things they're putting forth. There's a date certain in the legislation that Diablo will close, and we already have a date certain. If they change that date, what would make anyone trust they can rely on this administration to close this plant at any time? What would need to happen in order for this to be OK? I think they would shelve the whole thing and do an energy analysis, a cost analysis of continued operation. I think energy efficiency is your best alternative to making sure you don't run out of power, and I have seen no push whatsoever for energy efficiency from this administration. You would do an independent analysis of the financial impacts. You would not gut your oversight agency's policies. You would do your due diligence, like I have to do when I write a bill. Evidently all those hoops disappear when you're the governor. This will never pencil out with a five-year continuance. There is no sunset date, or there isn't one that the public is going to believe. We've been promised once; it's kind of like Lucy and that football. How do you see what's happening now – climate change concerns overtaking safety and cost concerns? Climate change is definitely a problem, but it wasn't a problem that happened this year. This settlement was signed in 2016. There was a component to the settlement that called for replacement power for Diablo Canyon by the end of the agreement. The California Public Utilities Commission removed it. They put it into the [long-term planning proceeding], which they continued to kick down the road. Is there a generation gap on nuclear? That's what I heard people say: 'There's a generation gap, younger people think nuclear's OK now.' Well, do they think old nuclear plants on earthquake faults are OK, or do they think nuclear might be the future? Those are separate questions. Honestly, I watched the Senate hearing, and the senators are a little older. Then I watched the Assembly hearing, and the assemblypeople are a little younger. And they asked some real challenging questions. What's going to happen with the labor agreement to close by 2025? We wanted to make sure there was a glide path to closure, and we did it really well. The unions were reimbursed, the utility was on board, the environmental groups were on board. This glide path was the absolute template for the nation if you're going to close a nuclear plant. There's no glide path with this extension. It's going to close someday. Is that someday when there's a large goof and PG&E closes it again? The risk is back on everyone's backs. Where the original settlement removed the risk to closure and planned for it, this has no plan whatsoever.   SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.     YOU TELL US GAME ON — Welcome to the Long Game, where we tell you about the latest on efforts to shape our future. We deliver data-driven storytelling, compelling interviews with industry and political leaders, and news Tuesday through Friday to keep you in the loop on sustainability. Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn and reporter Jordan Wolman. Reach us all at gmott@politico.com, dkahn@politico.com and jwolman@politico.com. Want more? Don't we all. Sign up for the Long Game. Four days a week and still free! WHAT WE'RE CLICKING — California broke heat records all over the place yesterday, but the lights (mostly) stayed on. — ESG with Chinese characteristics: coal, chemicals and companies with ties to forced labor, Bloomberg reports. — "No U.S. diplomats have been killed this year, anywhere in the world. But three U.S. State Department officials have died in the Washington area — all hit by vehicles."   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.       Follow us on Twitter Debra Kahn @debra_kahn Greg Mott @gwmott Lorraine Woellert @Woellert Jordan Wolman @jordanwolman   Follow us

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