Delaying the Retirement of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant for Zero-Carbon Electricity, Desalination & Hydrogen Production - 2021

Nuclear Power Industry

Stanford Energy webinar, held November 8, 2021, emphasized that extending the life of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant could help California meet the increasing challenges of climate change by providing clean, safe and reliable electricity, water and hydrogen fuel, according to a new study. Researchers from Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy and from MIT’s Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems and the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Water & Food Systems Lab jointly presented their key findings in an online seminar on Monday, Nov. 8. The seminar is free and open to all.

Speakers:

Bruce Cain, Charles Louis Ducommun Professor in Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University
Steven Chu, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Physics, Stanford University
Arun Majumdar, Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor, Stanford University
 
Presenters:

Jacopo Buongiorno, TEPCO, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John Lienhard, Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Water, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ejeong Baik, PhD Candidate, Department of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University
Justin Aborn, Senior Consultant @LucidCatalyst, LLC

https://energy.stanford.edu/ 
Event Audience: 
Students
Stanford Faculty/staff
Academics/researchers
Industry
NGOs
Government
Community

Key Study Findings (Report PDF):

• Delaying the retirement of Diablo Canyon to 2035 would reduce California power sector carbon emissions by more than 10% from 2017 levels and reduce reliance on gas, save $2.6 Billion in power system costs, and bolster system reliability to mitigate brownouts; if operated to 2045 and beyond, Diablo Canyon could save up to $21 Billion in power system costs and spare 90,000 acres of land from use for energy production, while meeting coastal protection requirements.
  
  
• Using Diablo Canyon as a power source for desalination could substantially augment fresh water supplies to the state as a whole and to critically overdrafted basins regions such as the Central Valley, producing fresh water volumes equal to or substantially exceeding those of the proposed Delta Conveyance Project—but at significantly lower investment cost.
  
  
• A hydrogen plant connected to Diablo Canyon could produce clean hydrogen to meet growing demand for zero-carbon fuels, at a cost up to 50% less than hydrogen produced from solar and wind power, with a much smaller land footprint.
  
  
• Operating Diablo Canyon as a polygeneration facility—with coordinated and varying production of electricity, desalinated water, and clean hydrogen—could provide multiple services to California, including grid reliability as needed, and further increase the value of the Diablo Canyon electricity plant by nearly 50% (and more, if water prices were to substantially increase under conditions of worsening drought).