Environmental, Civic Groups Join Together in Support of Diablo Canyon
MAY 9, 2026 – A coalition of environmental, civic, business, and other groups launched today with the goal of convincing legislators to support continued operation of Diablo Canyon (Nuclear) Power Plant, the source of 9% of California’s electricity and 20% of its clean electricity.
The plant, originally scheduled to close in 2025, was granted an extension to 2030 when government officials determined it was necessary to maintain the stability of California’s grid. As spokeswoman Brei Thompson explains, “we are a broad coalition of clean energy, environmental, business, labor, and other organizations that support extending Diablo Canyon Power Plant operations to 2045 to ensure California’s clean energy transition meets the need for reliable, affordable, carbon-free energy as electricity demand grows.
“Diablo Canyon has already proven vital to California’s reliable clean energy future, and with growing energy demand and extreme weather events, we will need every available stable, zero-emission, carbon-free energy available to us beyond 2030,” she says.
Fission Transition is working to:
• Extend to nuclear plant owners the same economic incentives offered to wind and solar farms for their clean power.
• Create a level playing field for clean energy by ending CAISO’s wholesale market trading rule which assigns to wind and solar resources a preferential place in its “loading order”.
• Eliminate the awarding of tradeable Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), which can be sold to fossil fuel generators to evade responsibility for the CO2 impacts of their energy.
• Promote funding for Gen-4 (fourth generation) reactor development in California to help the state regain its lead in clean energy.
• Inform legislators and the public of the many benefits of nuclear energy: its safety, its cost-competitiveness, and small land-use and wildlife impacts.
• Work with local communities with municipal power (Sacramento, Alameda, Burbank, Glendale, others) to investigate the possibilities of de-carbonizing with small-modular or microreactors.
WATCH: CA Gov. Gavin Newsom minces no words when asked what could have happened during a record 2022 heat wave if Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant had not been online
Can offshore wind farms replace the reliable electricity generated by Diablo Canyon Power Plant?
Though advocates claim offshore wind farms are capable of replacing the carbon-free, reliable power provided by nuclear plants, practical experience shows fossil fuel plants must step in to supplement their output, or even substitute for them, during periods of extended calm.
Opposition is also increasing from seaside residents, many of whom view the turbines as an intrusion of their ocean view. Moreover, the farms bring a host of construction- and maintenance-related ship traffic, which is blamed for increasing impacts on whales and other sea life.
Recently we sat down with Nicole Dorfman of REACT Alliance, a group which seeks to stop development of 3 separate wind farms occupying a 370–square mile area off the seaside community of Avila Beach, where many of REACT’s members live.
At the end of August, Utah-based company Nusano was chosen as one of the second-round selections by the National Reactor Innovation Center for a project through its Nuclear Energy Launch Pad.Yesterday, the company announced the details of that project, which [...]
The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency have jointly published the 31st edition of what is commonly called the Red Book. This most recent edition of the formally titled Uranium 2026: Resources, Production and Demand highlights [...]
Antares announced that it has received a $161 million award from the Department of Defense to demonstrate a nuclear reactor and integrate it with a spacecraft for flight certification.The company said it will be demonstrating a reactor that it calls [...]
The use of artificial intelligence enabled operators of the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility to make a miniscule mechanical adjustment that resulted in substantially improved efficiency—beyond the design expectations of the facility.The SWPF, which has been operating since [...]
More than two-thirds of the U.S. nuclear fleet has now been operating for over 40 years, and many plants are pursuing subsequent license renewal to continue generating carbon-free electricity well into the 2050s. As facilities age, maintaining components affected by [...]
©2026 Fission Transition is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
