It's Crunch Time for Diablo Canyon
Extension Legislation Must be Introduced by Friday, February 20
Californians for Green Nuclear Power (CGNP) has been working hard to extend Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) operations to 2045. California legislation to achieve this goal must be introduced by Friday, February 20 and the legislation must pass both the California Assembly and California Senate by Monday, August 31 for Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature. These deadlines are set by California statute.
Photo Credit: Bloomberg.com August 20, 2025
The above photograph shows the Diablo Canyon Unit 2 high pressure steam turbine. Presuming Governor Newsom promptly signs the extension legislation, the above deadlines show that there are only three years and two months from the bill enactment until Unit 1 is scheduled to close down per California SB 846 (Dodd, 2022.)
There are many long lead time items such as uranium fuel that must be ordered to insure that DCPP continues to produce its safe, abundant, reliable, cost-effective and zero-emissions power beyond October 31, 2029 until at least 2045. That is why PG&E’s Tom Jones informed CGNP on July 17, 2025 that our extension legislation must pass during the 2026 legislative year. Any delay beyond the 2026 legislative year means the long lead time items might not be available in time. DCPP got very close to that limit when SB 846 was enacted on September 2, 2022 to avoid Unit 1 closing in late 2024.
You may learn about the details of CGNP’s draft 2026 legislation here:
Is California Going to Shut Down this $16+ Billion Nuclear Plant in 2030?
Independent nonprofit Californians for Green Nuclear Power (CGNP) has been working since its founding in 2013 to support extended operations of Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) located on the California coast near San Luis Obispo. GreenNUKE is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subs…
As of February 13, 2026, CGNP has been unable to obtain a sponsor in the California Assembly or California Senate for its draft legislation. CGNP’s draft legislation was referred to legislative counsel about three weeks ago.
California State Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-19th District) is apparently planning to introduce a DCPP extension bill by February 18. Like CGNP, the County of San Luis Obispo is advocating for legislation that provides for a means to compensate for the substantial loss of Unitary Tax from DCPP after fiscal year 2016-2017 and to extend DCPP operations at least until 2045. California Senator John Laird (D-17th District) has indicated he will be supporting legislation to compensate for the loss of Unitary Tax from DCPP only to 2030, but is not presently supporting extended operations beyond 2030. Based on the above deadlines, Senator Laird’s likely legislation implies a DCPP shutdown in 2029-2030. CPUC intervenor TURN may introduce legislation similar to Senator Laird’s. (TURN played a significant role in the CPUC decision to shut down San Onofre Nuclear Generation Stations [SONGS] at the end of January, 2012 instead of repairing that plant.) DCPP owner PG&E may propose extension legislation which aligns with their federal NRC license renewal application to 2045. Other than those from CGNP, no further legislative details are available.
CGNP’s Request
Some CGNP donors provided the funds so CGNP could introduce our legislation during February, 2026. In order for CGNP to continue advocating for DCPP extended operations to 2045, we require five thousand dollars per month, or fifty thousand dollars to the end of 2026 for the services of our Sacramento-based Consultant Chris Micheli. CGNP advocates for the ratepayer and environmental benefits of DCPP extended operations. CGNP is a nonprofit 501 [c] [3] educational organization EIN 47-3674913. Upon request, we can supply our bank’s routing number and checking account number to wire funds directly to CGNP without delays or a third party taking a commission. Please help keep Diablo Canyon running. Thank you.
This Estero Bay News article by Neil Farrell was published on February 13, 2026. "Supervisors Rallying Support for Diablo Canyon."
https://esterobaynews.com/featured-stories/supervisors-rallying-support-for-diablo-canyon/
This detailed article provides information regarding the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors legislative objectives regarding DCPP extended operations. Eight of the nine larger cities in San Luis Obispo County signed on the the County letter.
....The letter “respectfully requests” the Legislature to:
• Support the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s regulatory approval process and establish a state licensing pathway to authorize DCPP to operate for up to 20 additional years.
• Enact legislation restoring historic pre-decommissioning unitary tax treatment for Diablo Canyon Power Plant including land valuation for the duration of its extended operations or provide alternate equivalent financial mitigations.
• Support the California Coastal Commission’s land conservation and public access plan for lands surrounding Diablo Canyon, in coordination with appropriate regulatory and conservation agencies.
Supervisors asked other agencies to sign on to the letter and some have already done so, as they too have skin in this game.....
CGNP just located a relevant article regarding the low cost of DCPP extended operations on JohnS's Substack. https://schlanj.substack.com/p/the-fascinating-cost-dynamics-of Here is the comment we posted on February 27, 2026.
Thank you for your DCPP cost analysis, John. CPUC intervenor Californians for Green Nuclear Power, Inc. calculated DCPP's 2026 cost in A.25-03-015 to be $21.28/MWh, which is an incredible bargain for the high-quality 24-7-365 reliable power that the plant provides. There are additional relevant details in our Reply Comments dated October 22, 2025. See our filing at https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M585/K485/585485740.PDF
CGNP has frequently "locked horns" with the CPUC since 2018 as a consequence of their anti nuclear power bias. We have attempted novel legal approaches, so far without success. We believe that the CPUC is politically corrupt. It plays a major role in California typically having the most expensive electric rates in the continental U.S. You will note some of our criticisms in our filing. The CPUC has retaliated by denying CGNP any intervenor compensation since 2018. Unfortunately, the CPUC lacks an inspector general to investigate complaints of waste, fraud, and abuse. CPUC Decisions are essentially final in most cases because there is no guaranteed appellate pathway for those Decisions. Our lead counsel as an Assemblyman shepherded through a package of CPUC reforms in 2015 with unanimous support from the California Assembly and California Senate, but those reforms were quashed by then Governor Brown.
Given the paltry financial returns to owner PG&E, CGNP's perspective is the only way to guarantee CGNP's long-term financial viability is for PG&E to sell the plant to a qualified buyer. Regrettably, even with a balance sheet presently loaded down with about $58 billion in debt (about twice PG&E's market capitalization,) management refuses to sell DCPP. Since we are outside PG&E, we fail to understand their refusal to sell. Perhaps the CPUC is preventing them from selling the plant as a way to force cessation of DCPP operations.