written 18 September 2022
published 25 September 2022
The climate crisis recently delivered record breaking heat, threatening the California electricity grid, creating official panic after decades of denial. One manifestation was the sudden, last minute extension of the operating permit for the Diablo Canyon nuclear complex.
A recent UDJ editorial described nuclear power as renewable (false), although the actual electricity produced is non carbon. However, a whole life assessment shows a nuclear plant releases as much carbon as a natural gas peaker plant, when considering the energy used in mining and enriching the uranium, the production of concrete and steel, and the construction of the plant. That doesn't include the carbon released in decommissioning a large plant (never been done yet), nor the centuries of high level nuclear waste disposal (also never been done yet).
Nuclear energy is the most expensive electricity on the market today, part of why the industry is declining. The Diablo Canyon facility has two 1100MW, Westinghouse reactors, each contains 4500 tons of enriched uranium. When uranium fissions (splits), energy is released and fission byproducts are created. These byproducts degrade the energy efficiency of the fuel, requiring fuel replacement after five years, even though only 5 percent of the uranium has been consumed. Enriched uranium has low levels of radiation, but once the fuel contains fission byproducts, the radiation levels are dangerously high, with the potential to kill a human within minutes. With no disposal site available, this "spent" fuel is stored on site, with 43,000 tons now at the Diablo Canyon facility. Nuclear power is not only expensive, it has serious consequences if anything fails. The nuclear industry assures us they have it "all under control", but reality differs.
The Fukushima nuclear complex had six General Electric reactors go online in 1971. The 2011 quake generated a 30' high tsunami, which flooded the emergency cooling pumps, leading to reactor cores melting, with subsequent hydrogen explosions, in the three units operating at the time. While the wind was blowing mostly offshore to the east, highly radioactive contamination was detected 150 miles south in Tokyo. The full extent of the reactor damages are still unknown, but repair costs are expected to exceed $1T.
Design for the Diablo Canyon reactor complex began in 1965, with construction beginning in 1968. It was known that the San Andreas fault was 45 miles to the east, but in 1969 the Hosgri fault was discovered 2.5 miles to the west, requiring plant redesign.
The units went online in 1985, with final costs increasing from $376M to $5.5B. In 2008 the Shoreline fault was discovered less than a mile to the west. The National Regulatory Commission, with the contradictory goals of both regulating nuclear power and promoting it, voted 3-2 that the design was "good enough". In 2015, the Diablo Cove fault was discovered, which runs directly under the foundation of the facility.
Normal reactor design life is about 40 years, and PG&E had been planning to shutdown in 2025, due to failing economics and expensive upgrades required because intense radiation makes metal brittle and weak. In addition, the wrong welding rod was used during construction, further increasing risk of embrittlement. A recent UDJ article argued that the expected seismic movements on the various known faults were adequately calculated in the plant design, but there is no public assessment of how the reactors have been degraded by embrittlement. PG&E says their reactor embrittlement report is "proprietary", even though a seismic or thermal shock could cause massive failure. San Francisco is 240 miles north, Los Angeles is 150 miles south, and Central Valley agriculture is 100 miles east. As a long standing gift to the nuclear industry, no insurance written covers losses due to nuclear contamination. None!
The recent 5 year extension agreement provides an initial $1.4B payment, with an open check for further upgrades, paid for by all California ratepayers, with all work exempt from California Environmental Quality Act.
We are being asked to choose between killing the planet with carbon or risking wide spread nuclear contamination from an aging, compromised reactor. We can choose "none of the above". The recent threat to the grid was avoided by timely reduction of demand. Like cranky infants, we want electricity whenever we want it. Perhaps we can learn to live within our power income, living more modestly when required, while we create a safe, sustainable power system.
