SACRAMENTO, CA—Assemblyman Mark Leno’s AB 1046 which would put re-licensing of California’s aging nuclear power plants on hold until the California Energy Commission (CEC) completes their in-depth economic and reliability study was passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee yesterday. 

“There are few decisions we make as a society that have as many far reaching implications as nuclear power,” said Leno.  “The waste it generates will remain radioactive for 300,000 years and a single nuclear disaster has the potential to contaminate vast regions of our planet.  Moving nuclear plant reauthorizations forward 15 years before expiration of their current licenses and without a careful and deliberate analysis that is independent of vested interests is bad public policy,” he said.

AB 1046 would prohibit the California Public Utilities Commission from approving the further use of ratepayer funds for costs associated with re-licensing of nuclear power plants until the Energy Commission completes a study required by AB 1632, authored by Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee (R- San Luis Obispo) last year.  The study, which is scheduled to begin in July 2007 and conclude in November 2008, will assess the costs and impacts associated with accumulating radioactive waste at California’s two operating nuclear power plants, as well as evaluate the vulnerability of the 4000 megawatts they generate to major disruption from aging equipment or a major earthquake. The study is projected to cost $800,000. 

In March, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) allowed PG&E, which owns the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, to spend16.8 million ratepayer dollars on an in-house study by the utility examining the feasibility of license renewal for the aging Diablo reactors.  Despite calls from legislative leaders that the PG&E study be delayed until the Energy Commission completes its work on the issue, the CPUC only suggested that the utility “defer to the extent feasible” the work on their in-house study.  AB 1046 does not reverse the CPUC decision, but delays further spending of ratepayer dollars on re-licensing costs until completion of the Energy Commission review. 

Rochelle Becker is Executive Director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, which along with Sierra Club California, is co-sponsoring AB 1046. “The Legislature and the Governor have asked the Energy Commission to review the impacts of accumulating radioactive waste along our seismically active coast. This bill reasonably asks utilities to wait until the review is completed before rushing to re-licensure,” said Becker. AB 1046 will be heard next on the Assembly Floor.