NUCLEAR POWER IN CALIFORNIA - 2007 STATUS REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Nuclear power generation has played an important role in California’s electric generation system for more than two decades. Because of the intense public interest and the wide range of public policy questions raised by nuclear power, the California Energy Commission (Energy Commission) was tasked by the Legislature in 1976 to examine key questions that lay at the heart of the nuclear power enterprise. As a result of that examination, undertaken early in the Commission’s existence, state policy on nuclear power development has been clearly established over the past 30 years: existing plants can continue to operate, but development of new nuclear plants is contingent on the demonstration and approval of the technologies needed to reprocess or dispose of the spent fuel generated in nuclear reactors.1 Recent interest in nuclear power led the Commission to renew its scrutiny of nuclear issues. As part of the 2005 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) process, the Commission reviewed the status of nuclear power as an energy resource for California.2 Based on that review, supported by a comprehensive status report and a two-day workshop that brought together a wide range of nuclear energy experts, the Energy Commission found, as it had in 1978, that a technology for the permanent disposal or reprocessing of high-level waste had not been demonstrated nor approved for use in the United States.3 Consequently, according to California law, the Energy Commission could not provide land-use permits or certification for a new nuclear power plant in California. (Additional findings and recommendations of the 2005 IEPR are shown on the following page.) Since the release of the 2005 IEPR, the renewed interest in nuclear power has continued in the United States, driven in part by considerable federal subsidies offered for new nuclear power plants, concerns about the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, and volatility in fossil fuel prices. With this renewed interest, the role of nuclear power has taken on greater visibility and importance. The Energy Commission is engaged in reviewing the issues associated with nuclear power as they relate to California policy. This report, Nuclear Power in California: 2007 Status Report, has been prepared to support the review undertaken as part of the Commission’s 2007 IEPR process. The major conclusions from this report are described below. Implications for the state are summarized at the end of the Executive Summary and discussed in more detail in the report.

Click here to get the file