Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Read
    • All Content
    • Latest Content
    • 2017
    • 2018
    • Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
    • Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation
    • Energy and the Environment
    • Environmental Law, Policy and Management
    • Sustainability
    • Water Management, Science and Technology
    • Case Study Pedagogy
  • Submit
  • Subscribe
  • About
    • Why Case Studies?
    • Editors
    • Reviewers
    • Contact
  • Other Publications
    • ucpcse

User menu

  • Register
  • My Alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search

Case Studies in the Environment logo

  • Register
  • My Alerts
  • Log in

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Read
    • All Content
    • Latest Content
    • 2017
    • 2018
    • Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
    • Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation
    • Energy and the Environment
    • Environmental Law, Policy and Management
    • Sustainability
    • Water Management, Science and Technology
    • Case Study Pedagogy
  • Submit
  • Subscribe
  • About
    • Why Case Studies?
    • Editors
    • Reviewers
    • Contact
Article Case

Closing Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, 2009–2018: Decision-Making on Energy Investments Relevant to Climate Change

John H. Perkins
Case Studies in the Environment January 2019, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/cse.2018.001313
John H. Perkins
Member of the Faculty Emeritus, The Evergreen State College, Washington, DC, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: perkinsj@evergreen.edu
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Supplemental
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Abstract

Modern economies cannot function without electricity, and production of electric power affects citizens in many ways, including climate change. Production of electricity requires investments that easily reach billions of dollars, and streams of investment capital must be perpetual to procure fuel, build and maintain plants, and transmit electricity to customers. This case study addresses whether a California decision relevant to investments about generating electricity adequately considered competing concerns. In 2009, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E, a private, investor-owned utility) applied to renew the operating licenses of its two nuclear reactors at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant (the “plant”). By 2016, PG&E had decided not to seek license renewal and asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to approve a price increase for its electricity to pay for specified expenses in closing the plant, which generated 24% of PG&E’s electricity. Four environmental groups and two labor organizations supported PG&E, and CPUC approved most elements of PG&E’s plan in 2018. PG&E’s application generated considerable debate during the CPUC process, and multiple organizations argued that PG&E’s plan was flawed. Two of the protests were from environmental groups favoring nuclear power as mitigation for climate change. Nuclear reactors generate electricity with uranium and have low emissions of carbon dioxide, the key source of climate change. This case study summarizes the competing arguments relevant to energy investments and climate change. Was the decision to close the plant in the best interest of the PG&E customers and the residents and taxpayers of California?

  • © 2019 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Reprints and Permissions web page, www.ucpress.edu/journals.php?p=reprints.
View Full Text

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Log in through your institution

You may be able to gain access using your login credentials for your institution. Contact your library if you do not have a username and password.
If your organization uses OpenAthens, you can log in using your OpenAthens username and password. To check if your institution is supported, please see this list. Contact your library for more details.

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
Next
Back to top
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Case Studies in the Environment.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Closing Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, 2009–2018: Decision-Making on Energy Investments Relevant to Climate Change
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Case Studies in the Environment
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Case Studies in the Environment web site.
Print
Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
Closing Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, 2009–2018: Decision-Making on Energy Investments Relevant to Climate Change
John H. Perkins
Case Studies in the Environment Jan 2019, DOI: 10.1525/cse.2018.001313

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request CCC Permissions
Share
Closing Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, 2009–2018: Decision-Making on Energy Investments Relevant to Climate Change
John H. Perkins
Case Studies in the Environment Jan 2019, DOI: 10.1525/cse.2018.001313
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
View Full Page PDF

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • KEY MESSAGE
    • INTRODUCTION
    • CASE EXAMINATION
    • CONCLUSION
    • CASE STUDY QUESTIONS
    • AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
    • FUNDING
    • COMPETING INTERESTS
    • SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
    • Data accessibility statement
    • Acknowledgments
    • Footnotes
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Supplemental
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Subjects

  • Sections
    • Energy and the Environment
  • General Topics
    • Global Warming/ Climate Change
    • Resource Use
  • Geographical Coverage
    • North America
  • Educational Use
    • Lower division undergraduate
    • Upper division undergraduate
    • Graduate
    • Professional and continuing education
    • General public
    • Classroom-tested

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Crossref
  • Google Scholar

This article has not yet been cited by articles in journals that are participating in Crossref Cited-by Linking.

Similar Articles

  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Visit us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe to us on Youtube
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us via RSS
  • Contact us

CUSTOMER SERVICE

  • Reprints and Permissions
  • Contact

UC PRESS

  • About UC Press

NAVIGATE

  • Home
  • Subject Collections
  • Submit
  • Subcribe
  • Editors
  • Why Case Studies?
  • Reviewers

CONTENT

  • Latest Content

INFO FOR

  • Librarians

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

At University of California Press, we believe that scholarship is a powerful tool for fostering a deeper understanding of our world and changing how people think, plan, and govern. Together, we work to drive progressive change by seeking out the brightest minds and giving them voice, reach, and impact.

 

Copyright © 2019 by the University of California Press
Privacy   Accessibility