Environmental advocacy group Friends of the Earth has filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Energy because of the DOE’s recent decision to award $1 billion to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California beyond its scheduled closure in 2025.
The Diablo Canyon plant provides 9 per cent of California’s electricity and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state government approved an extension of its operation in 2022 due to concerns over taking a carbon-free electricity generation capacity offline during a time when California has been dealing with significant electricity shortages, and amid climate change concerns.
Friends of the Earth believes that the DOE has based its funding decision on a faulty and outdated environmental impact study, and that there are serious safety risks involved in keeping Diablo Canyon operating. Friends of the Earth states on its website that it is “also involved in additional litigation challenging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decisions related to Diablo Canyon’s extension. These cases are pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.” (https://foe.org/news/lawsuit-doe-diablo-canyon/)
More information at the Associated Press here:
