Why Nuclear Power Is (Quietly) Making a Big Comeback All Around the World
From California to France to Japan and beyond, nuclear power is suddenly all the rage.
by Jon Miltimore
September 21, 2022
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that California Gov. Gavin Newsom was spearheading an eleventh-hour effort to pass legislation to extend a lifeline to Diablo Canyon, a 2,250-megawatt nuclear plant that supplies some 8 percent of the energy produced in the Golden State.
Under pressure from lawmakers and environmental activists, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) agreed in 2016 to decommission Diablo when its operating licenses expire in 2024 and 2025. But in light of the recent energy policy environment, California lawmakers had second thoughts.
On the very final day of the legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that will extend the plant five more years.
This is a sharp turn for Newsom, who had long intimated that the Diablo Canyon plant should be closed.
“I just don’t see that this plant is going to survive beyond 2024, 2025. I just don’t see that,” Newsom said while running for governor in 2016. “And there is a compelling argume…