[ RadSafe ] Every State can go Nuclear Free: California shows the way with a blue-green alliance

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

California is particularly well suited to provide much of their electrical need from solar (it is, after all, mostly a desert).  A program to have every flat roof in Southern California covered with solar panels would be a sound investment from several points of view.  There are a lot of conservation moves that would be quite reasonable (like, "stop pretending you don't live in a desert").  Even so, I think they will find it challenging to install and maintain enough "renewable" to meet growing demand, let alone make up for removing 20% of their electrical production.

I suspect that the closure of Diablo Canyon does not bode well for CA being a market for modular reactors, should they actually start being produced. 

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Roger Helbig
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2016 4:45 AM
To: RADSAFE <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Every State can go Nuclear Free: California shows the way with a blue-green alliance

Great for climate change and electric cars - hope that they learn how to use peddle power to cross the Sierras

Roger

Every State can go Nuclear Free: California shows the way with a blue-green alliance

by Christina MacPherson
economic stimulus provisions for the community of San Luis Obispo and Diablo Canyon workforce, which is why labor and, most importantly, the two biggest unions in Diablo are supporting this deal.
There’s even an employee retention and severance program and a community impacts mitigation program. And, remarkably, PG&E is putting up money for all of this. The move has garnered the support of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 and the Coalition of California Utility Employees, making it the model for the future of America’s energy transition

California Is Going Nuclear-Free, Which Means Everyone Else Can, Too, Fast  Coexist.com MICHAEL SHANK 06.21.16

A historic deal to replace the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant with renewable energy could be a model for the rest of the country.
"......, a new historic agreement between a major American power company and environmental groups shows that another way is possible.
America can, in fact, transition off nuclear in the short-term and replace it with renewable energy, efficiency and energy storage resources. It’s totally feasible. Take a look at the groundbreaking
agreement:

First, the 100-plus year-old California-based power giant, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), just agreed to shut down its two 30 year-old nuclear reactors in Diablo Canyon, letting the licenses expire in 2024 and 2025, respectively. This is a big deal, and it’ll make California, the world’s sixth largest economy, nuclear free.

This is no small thing. These two PG&E nuclear reactors, which spurred the start of the environmental organization Friends of the Earth, comprise roughly 20% of the annual electricity production in the company’s service territory and 10% of California’s annual production.

That’s a lot of power. And yet the transition off these kinds of plants is entirely doable and illustrative of switches that should happen across the U.S., including much older plants with long-expired licenses.  Entergy’s Indian Point nuclear reactors north of New York City, for example, could be closed even sooner than Diablo Canyon and replaced with a portfolio of renewables, efficiency, and storage.
Taking a cue from California, we should be replicating this everywhere.

Second, this agreement indicates that California is outpacing other states in how its utilities are redefining their future, as PG&E didn’t stop with the Diablo Canyon closure. They committed to ramping up their renewable energy portfolio over the next 15 years so that renewables will comprise the majority of their total retail power, at 55%, voluntarily exceeding California’s standards for 2030.

That’s also a big deal and heralds a new tide of utility leadership.
PG&E sees the markets moving and wants to make the switch early.
Utilities across the U.S., many of which are notoriously conservative in thinking and practice, are seeing the writing on the wall. And in the coming years, we’ll only see more of this switching as the economics are rapidly driving the conversion.

Third, this deal also locks in an equitable and just transition for the communities that supported Diablo’s nuclear power in the past. It contains economic stimulus provisions for the community of San Luis Obispo and Diablo Canyon workforce, which is why labor and, most importantly, the two biggest unions in Diablo are supporting this deal.
There’s even an employee retention and severance program and a community impacts mitigation program. And, remarkably, PG&E is putting up money for all of this. The move has garnered the support of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 and the Coalition of California Utility Employees, making it the model for the future of America’s energy transition. It’s one of the best examples of a blue-green alliance, with both labor and the environmental community on board........http://www.fastcoexist.com/3061145/california-is-going-nuclear-free-which-means-everyone-else-can-too
Christina MacPherson | June 24, 2016 at 7:43 am | Categories: business and costs, employment, USA | URL: http://wp.me/phgse-o9Q

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