News & Events



SB 846 Update

Governor Newsom Signed SB 846 on September 2, 2022.  FLASH! On October 26, 2023, the CPUC issued a PD which extends DCPP’s operation at least until 2030. CPUC’s Proposed Decision  On October
“Charles Komanoff was for decades an expert witness for groups working against nuclear plants, delivering blistering critiques so effective that he earned a spot at the podium when tens of thousands of
California’s power is expensive and polluting – but doesn’t have to be. The state of California plans to replace Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) mostly with Wyoming coal-fired generation. The source of
“Feb 3 (Reuters) – Nearly 80 scientists and academics, including a former U.S. energy secretary, on Thursday urged Governor Gavin Newsom to delay closure of California’s remaining nuclear plant to comply with
VANCOUVER – With nuclear power facing an uncertain future in many countries, the world risks a steep decline in its use in advanced economies that could result in billions of tonnes of

She Said, He Said

Diablo Canyon By the Numbers

Deaths or injuries
Zero

Deaths or injuries

are attributable to radiation from spent nuclear fuel stored at Diablo Canyon in its 38-year history.
Terawatthours
18

Terawatthours

Diablo Canyon generates 18 terawatthours (trillion watthours) of clean electricity each year.
Tons
9,000,000

Tons

Every year, Diablo Canyon prevents 9 million tons of CO2 emissions.

Find the Spent Nuclear Fuel 

If you’re wondering where the smokestacks are at Diablo Canyon Power Plant (below), there aren’t any! Since 1985, Diablo Canyon has generated almost 600 trillion watthours of clean energy – 9% of all the electricity used in California – with zero carbon emissions.

“What about the waste?”

The nuclear fuel in each reactor (Diablo Canyon has two) needs to be replaced about every eighteen months. Though the spent fuel removed from the reactors remains dangerous for hundreds of years, there’s very little of it – the spent fuel from your lifetime electricity needs would fit inside an empty Coke can. All of Diablo Canyon’s spent fuel is stored safely onsite in sealed, dry casks, on a concrete pad about the size of a convenience-store parking lot (it’s to the right of the pool of water above the plant, in the photo below).

Had coal been used to create the electricity Diablo Canyon has over its lifetime, it would have released 4.3 billion tons of ash into the environment (1.47 cubic miles, or roughly the volume of the three closest mountains in the background). Coal ash contains significant quantities of radioactive uranium and barium, as well as toxic arsenic, lead, and mercury. The 50 tons of poisonous mercury released each year by U.S. coal plants doesn’t remain harmful for hundreds of years, like spent fuel – it remains harmful forever.