The Assembly’s Appropriations Committee has approved a bill that would put the relicensing of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on hold until a study on the future of nuclear power in California is completed.

The bill by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would forbid the state Public Utilities Commission from approving any further use of electricity ratepayer money for costs associated with nuclear plant relicensing until the state Energy Commission completes a study into the price of storing high-level nuclear waste at Diablo Canyon and the San Onofre nuclear generating station in northern San Diego County.

The legislation was prompted by a Public Utilities Commission decision to allow Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to charge ratepayers $16.8 million for a study into the feasibility of renewing Diablo Canyon’s two operating licenses even though they will not expire until after 2020.

“Moving nuclear plant reauthorizations forward 15 years before expiration of their current licenses and without a careful and deliberate analysis that is independent of vested interests is bad public policy,” said Leno, who chairs the Appropriations Committee.

The bill leaves money for the PG&E study intact but forbids any further spending until the Energy Commis-

sion study is complete. The estimated $800,000 study is scheduled to begin in July and be complete by the end of 2008.

PG&E opposes the legislation, saying it is unnecessary because the Public Utilities Commission has required that the findings of the Energy Commission’s report be incorporated in PG&E’s feasibility study, said Sharon Gavin, a spokeswoman for PG&E.

“The bill could prevent a utility from even initiating the relicensing process until the study is complete,” she said.

The Energy Commission study was mandated by a bill authored last year by Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, and approved by the Legislature.

In addition to determining the cost of storing nuclear waste, the study will look at the vulnerability of major electrical generating stations like Diablo Canyon to disruption by earthquakes or aging components.

Blakeslee has not taken a position on the Leno bill, said Christine Robertson, his chief of staff. It will be heard in the Assembly’s Utilities and Commerce Committee next week. It has the backing of local nuclear watchdog groups and the Sierra Club.

“This bill reasonably asks utilities to wait until the review is completed before rushing to relicensure,” said Rochelle Becker, executive director of the San Luis Obispo-based Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility.

Diablo Canyon’s two nuclear reactors generate 1,100 megawatts of electricity, or about 10 percent of the state’s power needs.

Reach David Sneed at 781-7930.

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