Dr. Conca reports that a widespread claim ... that dozens of nuclear plants merit subsidies to protect the climate of the Earth, has been borne out by reality. One of the U.S. most prominent and technically capable utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, recently announced its decision to close its well-running, low-carbon, low-cost nuclear reactors at Diablo Canyon, because of political pressure from the state of California and especially from its Lt. Governor. At the same time, tax subsidies for renewables, plus low natural gas prices, are making reactors uneconomic in the short term. The PG and E proposal claims that nuclear energy would be replaced completely with gains in efficiency and renewables. But the proposal details do not back this up. In fact, it calls for implementing renewables and efficiency equal to only about a quarter of Diablo Canyon current generation. Instead, experts agree, the generation will mainly be replaced by natural gas, with attempts to buy energy from out-of-state. Renewables make money only because of the Production Tax Credit (which covers almost all production costs) and the Investment Tax Credit (which covers about a third of the construction costs), plus State incentives that apply only to renewables. Thus, Diablo Canyon 18 billion kWhs per year, the largest and lowest-carbon electricity generation in California, will be replaced by less than 2 billion kWhs per year of similarly-low-carbon renewables, less than 2 billion kWhs per year from efficiency, and over 10 billion kWhs per year from high-carbon natural gas and costly out-of-state purchases, which California hopes to get hydroelectric from the Pacific Northwest (NOT !!!).
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