Friday, November 22, 2019

ENERGY FOR THE HOLIDAYS



As the holiday season approaches, it looks like we here in Humboldt County will have all the spirit and festivities to enjoy, without being blacked-out by PG&E.  The fiasco that played out and continues to unravel for the huge utility is almost unbelievable. Some highlights:
PG&E is in bankruptcy, due to the gross mismanagement by the past corporate leaders and board of directors, and the California PUC over the past untold years.  Failure to put money into the necessary upgrades to the natural gas sector, as well as the electricity divisions, has led to huge disasters amounting to billions of dollars in property loss, as well as lives lost.  The utility upheld its commitment to paying a 12% dividend to its investors, and millions of dollars to the incompetent upper management.  Most of those in power have resigned or been fired, with their million-dollar severance payouts.  The new executives are just as bad, or worse.  They asked for millions more money just so they would have the incentive to do their jobs! (1)  WOW!  That was denied.
The past failure to understand and address climate change in their California territory contributed to devastating fires over the pas few years.  Billions of dollars lost by the people in their domain…homes, businesses, infrastructure, livelihood…this can’t be valued with dollars…although they are trying to do so in their bankruptcy proceedings.  Whatever happens over the next few years will be a grand moral tragedy.  In Paradise, a community that lost 11,000 houses and businesses last year, only 11 homes have been rebuilt.  In Santa Rosa, which was devastated by fire two years ago, a few more homes have been replaced.  My personal conversation with a retired insurance attorney in that area laid out the game plan for the insurance and utility industry…”we’ll give you 35 cents on the dollar for replacement…if you don’t like that, then sue us…good luck, cause we’ll tie you up in court and legal costs for years.”  It’s the American way!  Same thing is happening in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, etc.
Case in point…PG&E parent corporate is/was worth $68 billion, and now run by Bill Johnson.  PG&E Electricity Utility is a subsidiary, worth $3.24 billion, holding 32 bonds worth $18 billion.  It is run by Andy Vesey.  But this is a publicly traded company…owned by “investors.”  92% is owned by 703 institutions…huge hedge fund companies, such as Vanguard which owns 7.3%, Blackrock has 2.5%.  The $30 billion Boston hedge fund Baupost now owns 4.6%.  they just bought $1 billion in fire claims for $0.35/on the dollar. Smart!  They might wind up paying 30-35 cents to the claimants…but if they pay more, then they get to write of that excess as a capital loss…win, win, win for everybody but the folks who had their lives destroyed by the criminal and negligent actions of those very the people in charge.  Mortimer Buckley owns Baupost which manages $5.3 trillion worth of funds.  Do you really think he really gives a shit about the peons in California?  If he really cared, he would buy us rakes so we can go out and rake our forests!  Interesting that the bulk of these fires and losses occurred in the coastal chaparral and oak savannas, and not in major timber producing lands that those damn environmentalists have locked up.  When you hear of the “investors” whether in the stock market, or corporate annual meetings, they are a handful of very rich, and thus very powerful people in terms of our monetary policies.  When the investors voted down a proposal to address climate change at the last annual meeting for Exxon…who do you think forced that decision…the “investors” …the folks who hold a few measly shares of Exxon in their retirement portfolio?
Here in Humboldt County, PG&E blacked us out for 35-48+ hours.  I was off for 35 hours.  County-wide outrage!  We have 10 state of the art natural gas engines in our new power plant that can produce all the electricity we need locally.  The entire plant was idled for the blackout period.  There was a negligible threat of transmission-caused wildfire in most of Humboldt County.  The big concern was the major transmission line carrying electricity to and from the major grid in Redding, some two hundred miles away. Switching that line OFF would have allowed pretty much all of Humboldt County to remain electrified, as a relatively small micro-grid.  The decision to not do that was made at the high corporate level by Mr. Johnson, a million miles away from reality.  His response to the folks who lost perishables during the blackout was “I got that, but one of the things we did was give them the opportunity to actually refill their refrigerator 'cause their house is still there."  It is estimated the County lost over $1million in lost wages, revenue, business, etc., as well as the financial and human impacts of the residents (and ratepayers.) We’re told that this will probably go on for the next ten years or so.  Generators are selling like hotcakes!  So is gasoline, ice, canned goods, etc.  However, this will most-likely not happen again in Humboldt County! I was involved with our local leaders to call PG&E to task, and we are involved in the larger State-wide efforts to deal with the “too big to fail” corporate monstrosity.  There is a state-wide coalition to break-up PG&E’s monopoly, and create many small microgrids that would be co-operatives, removing big money from sucking out our dollars and local control.  (2)
This transition will take time, technological innovation, lots of money…but most of all political will.  It is so complex…economic, environmental, technical, social, moral…but it is what many of us have seen for many years as common sense for a sustainable and equitable future.

 

Go to the Letter 201142019.pdf
file:///C:/Users/Licensed%20User/Downloads/Letter%20dt%201142019.pdf

Friday, November 1, 2019

The Big Blackout


THE BIG BLACKOUT

I am writing in support of Supervisor Bohn and Sheriff Honsal’s letter demanding that PG&E explain why the greater Humboldt County area had all of its electricity shut down, when we have a local power plant more than capable of supplying all local our electrical needs, without adding to the threatened larger inland grid.

I have served on the PG&E’s Community Advisory Committee since its inception in 1998, and feel that this community has been misled and now penalized by what has transpired over the past 20 years.  Early on, the CAB worked with the utility in its planning and ultimate construction of the 160MW state of the art gas-fired power plant.  Its 10 engines were designed so that they could be individually turned on and off to meet the power demands at any particular time.  This was important due to the forward thinking that renewables, be they biomass, wind, and solar, with their intermittency, would eventually become major contributors to our local grid.  The plant would also continue to supply voltage regulation to the transmission lines feeding electricity in and out of the county.  We asked, and were assured that the power plant would not run at high capacity sending electricity out of the area for most of the time, since one of our concerns was with the emissions being emitted.  This plant was to be a positive energy project, giving us a cleaner and more local source of electricity.

The issue I am concerned with is why was the local grid not isolated from the main grid that was in danger from the wind and fires?  Was the decision to shut us off and turn the power plant off due to a political directive, a software issue, or simply the lack of mechanical hardware?  I encourage our local leaders to demand those answers, and most importantly, to further demand that whatever actions need to be taken be implemented as soon as possible, since PG&E itself says the PSPS event will probably go on for 10 years or more.

Our electricity future is in a great state of transition due to climate change, cheaper renewables, and rapidly changing technologies.  Locally, it would be ideal to be self-sufficient in our own “microgrid.”  That will probably happen in time with the development of all the rich natural resources we have that can supply us with local, clean, sustainable energy.  But that will take time, money, and most of all the political will of people and leaders.  For now, we need to protect our local economy, our infrastructure, our diverse population, and our environment from large scale, out of the area, decisions that are not in our best interest.  We are Humboldt County, after all!

Mike Manetas

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The Big PG&E Grid Shutdown


A sunny, pleasant day in Humboldt County.  Sitting in my easy chair in my living room, a warm fire in the stove, sipping a cup of coffee, and working on my laptop.  Pretty normal, except there is no electricity in all of Humboldt County, as we'll as most of Northern California, since PG&E has cut the transmission of power due to the risk their high-voltage lines might have in igniting fires in the vast rural mountains through which the grid runs. That decision will hopefully spur the much needed and serious discussion about climate change.  The debate up to now has been mainly about whether human’s use of fossil fuels is responsible for changes in the global atmosphere, producing changes in local climate and weather.  Many key points have been and are being left out of the dialogue with regards to understanding when/how/where that change is, and what are the impacts of that process.  Climate Change is no one thing, but a continuous set of very complex natural processes, affecting our oceans, the various layers of the atmosphere, land forms, water and moisture…virtually everything in the inter-relationships of what we call our global environment.  I recall the old adage “does the flapping of the wings of a butterfly in the Amazon affect me here in Humboldt County?”

So, let’s assume today’s predicament is due to global warming.   I drove through Mckinleyville this morning.  Stoplights not working, but somebody had gone out and put up little stop signs on those little sawhorses.  Drivers were courteous.  Everything else was quiet.  CVS was closed and the parking lot was empty, as were almost every other business in town.  All the gas stations were empty, and their signs advertising $4+ gasoline were dark. The United flight came overhead, heading to unload its passengers to a dark empty terminal.  I drove on into Arcata…the same thing…the shopping center with CVS and Safeway was empty.  The plaza was void of cars and people.  Los Bagels was open, selling bagels and pastries backed yesterday at their dark, unlit counter space.  Again, pretty empty and quiet.  The happening place in the area was Toni’s!  Packed parking lot…which is saying a lot…serving food in their unlit space.  I didn’t go in to see if they were fully up and running with a generator or not; but with what money she made today, she could go out and buy a pretty upscale backup generator system.  The mail was delivered, as was the
SF Chronicle, and our hard-wired landline worked, as did our well phones.  No internet.

What are the ramifications and impacts of all of this?  Emergency services have back-up, and functioned as usual.  I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow at 3pm, set up months ago.  I drove by the office, and of course they were dark and closed.   I guess if there were a real emergency, one could get help.  But what stuns me is the so many impacts on just about everybody…employees called off work, business owners losing sales and business, those people dependent on the internet for their work being down, folks with electric cars not being able to charged and go anywhere, and just the general inconvenience of daily life…hot shower, basic heat (I had both wood stoves going), inability to cook food and losing food in the refrigerator (I fired up our generator for a bit to keep the refrigerator and freezer up to snuff), basic lighting (we have many battery powered lanterns which we use at the cabin), and for some, no TV!!!  I don’t know what is going on because no internet and news…but we do have our cell phones and battery radios to sort of keep in touch.  We are used to this because we have our cabin, which has no electricity or cell service, but everything else, except a flush toilet!    We’ve also backpacked and camped out a lot so it is not really an issue.  A lot of people have no experience with this.  My sister-in-law doesn’t have running water from well when there is no electricity. So many people have to figure it out…they are on their own. 

And then put this in perspective in the big picture…we still have our house and everything…what about the victims of hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, extreme snow and rain, drought and extreme heat…they are also on their own, and many have lost everything.  Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas…Climate change?   What about the rest of the world?  Water, food, employment, energy, migrant displacement…all severely impacted by climate change.  But the most important point nobody is emphasizing (not the media, the `political candidates, people in general) is that this is now, and the science says the weather extremes will continue to get more and more severe.  This is much more than rising sea level, melting glaciers, 2 degrees rise in temperature, etc.  Most important is understanding the interconnectedness of everything, and the enormous future impacts on not just our environment and all the species living in it, but the economic, social, political, technological, and moral impacts on not only us and our children, but on all future generations.  Pretty amazing!!!!!

 ************************************************************
Here we are, six days later, and the shit has hit the fan!  Everyone is outraged at the audacity of PG&E…how they handled this whole affair.  Starting at the top…PG&E is in bankruptcy because its transmission line failed and started several of the multi-billion- dollar fires over the last few years.  Instead of focusing major efforts to upgrade and protect the power lines, the top management at the time spent billions lobbying and giving huge dividends to its stockholders.  Those executives are gone…with their million dollar severance and retirement packages, with no liability for what they created.  The new executives wanted additional bonuses so they can be encouraged to do more than what their million dollar a year jobs require.  They basically ignored the ratepayers, and didn’t really care about the various impacts their decisions had on people and communities who had to go without power.  Very bad decisions were made, and those in charge are saying they are doing the best they can, that upgrades cost too much money, things can’t be done in time, etc, etc.  At least they are not denying that the changing climate is impacting the weather in California…more dry forests and grasslands, stronger winds, hotter fires, etc, as well as the fact that our infrastructure…the grid, is outmoded and in terrible shape.  I can go on and on about corporate power vs. the people, about the quest for more and more money and profit, etc.  Here is another example to put alongside health care, prescription drugs, military spending, education, environmental protection, and climate change.

There are solutions…not easy or cheap, but a part of the new “green deal” which features local renewables used locally in small microgrids, along with energy efficiency and smart technology.  The Blue Lake Rancheria, a band of Native
Americans has worked closely with HSU and other entities to create such a microgrid…solar and other renewable technologies, energy storage, and smart deployment all worked very well in Blue Lake.   Their gas station and market were open to meet the needs of local essential demand, their casino/hotel accommodated the elderly and people with specific needs, communications remained intact, and the community was a small bright island in a sea of darkness.  The same folks at the Schatz Lab a t HSU are building a similar microgram in McKinleyville at the airport, and are planning others throughout the county.  Local resources meeting the needs of community when power is affected by flooding, earthquakes, fires, or other events we often endure here on the North Coast. 

San Francisco has been wanting to buy the PG&E poles, wires, transformers, etc., but the utility claims that would remove a large segment of their ratepayers, and they could not function without those dollars.  I think what we will see down the road is the breakup of the mega-giant utility into many small, local, and manageable entities.  All this is, of course, very political, and the big money players will do all they can to prevent loss of huge profits from the generation, distribution, and ultimate selling of electricity.  Renewables, small is beautiful, no nukes, local cooperatives, power for the people, not profit…all those things that we’ve been saying for years may soon be on their way.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

High-Level Waste at Humboldt Bay

Here is a piece I've submitted to the Econews, our local environmental news media.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a public hearing in Eureka on August 26th to gather input and ideas on formulating a policy for creating the many Community Advisory Boards that will be set up to monitor decommissioning activities at nuclear sites across the nation.  Members of the local CAB, set up 20 years ago by PG&E, not only supplied useful  information, but also released the giant “elephant in the room” - what will happen to the 6 casks of high-level spent fuel that is stored on the bluff adjacent to Humboldt Bay.

After 10 years of complex dismantling and shipping off some 16,000 truckloads of radioactively contaminated metal, concrete, soil, and other debris, the $1+ Billion decommissioning project is virtually complete.  All that remains now, is finishing the final site restorations to bring it into California environmental compliance.  However, PG&E holds the amended nuclear license requiring it to monitor and safeguard the dry casks in the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) which is located on site about 150 feet from Humboldt Bay.  The license is for 40 years, and PG&E will continue gathering monthly payments from ratepayers to pay the $10-15 Million per year storage bill for at least the next 10 years.  What will happen after that is anybody’s guess, since there are no current viable solutions to the very long term needs of safeguarding this waste.

As was said by both PG&E and the NRC at the meeting, there is nothing they/we can do, since it is the Department of Energy’s problem.  Mandated by Congress in 1982, the DOE was to take ownership and possession of all the waste fuel, and place it in a deep geologic repository by 1998.  That deadline came, and there was no place to put the tens of thousands of tons of high-level wastes.  DOE spent $15 Billion trying to develop Yucca Mountain for deep burial.  Although the nuclear industry blames political issues, that site (or in reality, any other site) is currently unrealistic due to the enormous technological challenges dealing with the heat-emitting radioactivity of the fuel, and the huge costs estimates for very long term storage.  Thus, the spent fuel from the defunct Humboldt Bay reactor is sitting in 6 dry casks in a concrete bunker right next to Humboldt Bay, under the guardianship of PG&E, and will most likely may remain there forever!

This next phase of the decommissioning process, is figuring out what to do with this very complex and challenging issue.  There are many options which will be addressed in the future, not only by the CAB and, hopefully, by the local community and the public in general.  How long will these casks do what they are supposed to do…their expected life is about 40-50 years (we're 10 years in.)  What happens if there is a failure, due to the technology itself, due to earthquakes, due to tsunami, due to the increasing impacts of climate change on sea level rise and site integrity.  Who pays for all this…ratepayers, taxpayers, PG&E, the nuclear industry???   We are easily talking about impacts occurring now and well into the lives of future generations.  PG&E is currently in bankruptcy.  Who's in charge?  Will they sell the license to a private company (as has recently occurred with several other nuclear sites in the US) leading to corporate gamesmanship and incompetence?  How does Humboldt Bay factor into the much bigger challenges of decommissioning PG&E’s Diablo Canyon reactors and their spent fuel?  What about California’s other decommissioning site at San Onofre and Rancho Seco?  How does this fit in with the 110 reactor sites across the nation?

These are very large and complex issues that will be debated and acted on in the political, technological, economic, and social arena for many years to come.  It will take serious concerted citizen action to monitor and fight the humongous nuclear industry which even today touts the various hoaxes as it has over the years.  Cheap, affordable, necessary, carbon-free.  Nowhere in all the current pro-nuclear propaganda does it state the true costs and incredible challenges of all nuclear waste management, not only for reactors, but all across the entire nuclear industry.
It’s all about corporate money!  Get informed, and stay tuned!!!!






Saturday, August 10, 2019

Nuke Upate



Towards the middle of August, and we're getting ready for the anticipated meeting with the NRC on the completion of the physical decommissioning of the Humboldt Bay nuke.  Another few months of site restoration, and it will be done…44 years after shutdown, 10 years of actual decommissioning work, and $1.02 million of ratepayer’s money.  The final phase is probably the most important.  What will become of the 6 dry casks holding the high-level spent fuel that is now in storage on a bluff at the plant site?  How long will it stay there, what are the risks associated leaving it there beyond the 50 year life expectancy of the casks, what impacts from climate change, how much is all this going to cost well into the future and who will pay for it, and, most importantly today, what happens to the license and responsibility that PG&E holds if it disappears after bankruptcy?  We’ll see!!!

The nuclear dream is dead, and the industry still tries to hold on to its pattern of sucking money from consumers and citizens.  There is no new reactor construction even on the drawing boards, aside from the ongoing fiasco in Georgia, where the Vogel plant is about 60% complete, 10 years behind schedule, $15billion over budget, and still receiving federal subsidies in hopes of completion.  As I have said before, if this plant ever comes on line, its electricity would be so expensive compared to the renewables available, that it would have to be subsidized by taxpayer money.  The dream of the new generation of Small Modular Reactors is not going to happen because of economics, and the dream of recycling fuel (reprocessing) in fast plutonium reactors has long bead dead.  The old nukes are starting to close and fall by the wayside, victims of the high costs compared to renewables, and again, the industry seeks subsidies and bailouts to keep them online for a few more years.

Now, the TRUE cost of nuclear power is beginning to see light: Decommissioning and High and Low-level Waste Disposal.
The complexity and real cost of decommissioning is beginning to be felt in communities across the nation…in Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Pennsylvania…as we’ll as California, where the San Onofre plant in Southern California and Diablo Canyon, owned by PG&E, are front and center.  How much is all this going to cost, how long will it take, who will pay, how safe are the communities, and the most important question...what’s to become or the hundreds of dry casks storing the highly radioactive spent fuel.

As I’ve said, there is no solution to dealing with this waste other than putting it in dry casks and storing them in as safe an environment as possible.  I refer you to the excellent article by Allison MacFarlane, a past NRC commissioner, who’s credentials and opinions are above reproach, and who basically says it all.  https://thebulletin.org/2019/07/recycle-everything-america-except-your-nuclear-waste/?fbclid=IwAR0Bc_ZynF_Scc3JAxo0HgsxH25y35gITzcDrSHSpTkisqF3y3M5479FeIY 
Solutions have gone from shooting this stuff into the sun, burying it the deep ocean, reusing it in new reactors, etc, to the latest scheme…deep bore hole disposal.  All of these are absurd because we can never afford to develop the technology and actually implement its deployment.  We’re talking about 10,000+ huge casks, weighing hundreds of thousands of tons, and which are highly radioactive…dangerous emitting radioactivity and heat for of thousands of years.  Best to just leave the casks we’ve developed today in place at the 30 or so reactor sites, pay the $10-20million/yr to monitor and guard each site, and deal with the maintenance and replacement of parts when they eventually wear out. 

What hasn’t come to the forefront yet is the other huge cost of safely disposing and storing of the enormous volume or Low-Level radioactive wastes from the decommissioning process.  We do have lots of room in Texas, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Washington…where we can just dump this stuff in trenches, and hope everything works out ok for the next 300 or so years.  There is a lot of money to be made in decommissioning and waste disposal…and we, the ratepayers and taxpayers now and in the future, are footing the bills.  Good ole cheap nuclear power!  Just another great hoax by the powers that be.

Here are some current interesting reads, if you are so inclined:







Monday, April 15, 2019

Energy Update after the 11th Anniversary of Fukushima



Here we are, 11+ years after the nuclear disaster in Japan. In spite of billions of dollars spent, that site is continuing to accumulate millions of gallons of radioactively contaminated water in makeshift tanks and releasing both water and gaseous radioactive emissions because there is no way to contain them. The workers still can't even begin to address the melted fuel in two of the four reactors, let alone figure out what to do with it.  This site will never really be cleaned up.  Like Chernobyl, it will be somehow be entombed, monitored, and chipped away at “decommissioning.”  The total costs (economic, technical, environmental, and social) now estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars, will never be known, since all subsequent activities will take place over hundred years or more. 
Despite this, the global nuclear industry continues to push for federal tax dollars to continue the Vogle boondoggle in Georgia, extending the licensing of old plants, and lobbying the dream of new nuclear technologies that are safer, cheaper, and necessary in our coming low-carbon world.  Another of our great “hoaxes!”

Meanwhile, renewables are making great headway, in spite of the blatant lack of support by the current administration.   Just today, the White House proposed cutting the funding for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory by 70%.  Of course, Congress will not let this happen.  But all the other actions taking place in the EPA, Departments of Interior, Energy, Commerce, Housing, etc. are taking their toll in the necessary push for growth and deployment of the various renewable technologies and policies.  Individual states and businesses are addressing the obvious...renewables are cheaper, cleaner, sustainable, and most of all, local job creators.  More and more people are realizing this is not a partisan reality but is a very real benefit for our society and the world. And the lies and misinformation from the administration are being seen for what it is.

The “Green New Deal” is making incredible waves, and the old fossil guard is getting very nervous.  Several points which I believe need to be seriously addressed are:
1.     We need to understand the difference between our overall energy use and our electricity use.  The first phase of the transition is the replacement renewables for the use of fossil fuels in generating electricity.  Other fossil energy uses will be more difficult, but will eventually follow.
2.     The goal of 100% renewable energy is not very appropriate.  We can achieve a great reduction of fossil electricity, but there is no reason to exclude the use of natural gas when it is the "best" available technology for doing what needs to be done.
3.     We will most likely continue to use oil for a variety of purposes including transportation.  The amount we consume will decrease as efficiency and replacements escalate.  There probably be old Chevys on the road many years from now!
4.     The time for implementation of the lofty goals for the Green Plan (20-30 years) is misleading and misconceived.  The transition will take time, and will be guided by technology as well as social, political, and financial incentives.
5.     We cannot know what new advances and discoveries will push the implementation of current and new technologies.  Some may speed up the process, while others may need time to develop, manufacture, construct, etc.
6.     The main thing is that this new direction is the future, and we all need to understand, support, and push for its most rapid deployment.

The cost of this transition is the most misunderstood concept at this time…$95 trillion +/-, whatever.  Most of this is not “new” money that will be needed.  We already spend trillions of dollars each year on conventional energy, and the transition will just shift what technologies we demand.  Not too long ago, solar and wind were expensive compared to fossil fuels.  Expensive money was spent with the result that today, those renewables are cheaper than coal, nuclear, and oil.

What is the “true” cost?  It’s not just the cost of a solar panel vs a coal-fired plant.  The other ancillary cost to our air, water, our overall health, the degradation of land, and now most important, the real cost that climate change poses for us and future generations.  These costs are incalculable, but most certainly far more than would it would cost us if we do nothing.  The only cost issue is the decrease in profits for the entire fossil fuel industry.  We will still use energy…we most likely will require even more as time goes by, so money will be spent…just for different resources.

So many benefits and issues that need to be addressed and cover so we as a society can understand what “we” are doing.  Renewables will produce local jobs.  The cost of sunlight and wind will not fluctuate.  The development and manufacture of the various technologies will flourish with so many benefits for a sustainable world.  The Navajo Nation has abandoned its 2000+MW coal-fired plant and will not only use solar PV to provide electricity to its constituency; but will build a manufacturing facility to produce those panels, and more into the future.

The old argument that we can’t make the transition in a reasonable timeframe is again just nonsense.  The remarkable advances we see in space, automotive, communication technology can be mustered to provide the solar, wind, efficiency, and other necessary infrastructures we need.  If the enormous amount of money lobbied against renewables were to be turned around in support, it would be a no brainer!








Monday, January 21, 2019

Winter 2019 Update



Here it is, the middle of our January winter, and it is cold and rainy...wish we could have some of that global warming about now!  The good news though, is that the decommissioning of the Humboldt Bay nuclear power plant is coming to a close within the next couple of years.  All the radioactive contamination is gone away (?) and site cleanup and restoration is in full progress...a job well done, but still needing a few more millions of dollars from ratepayers to finish.

The big concern now is with the Diablo Canyon twin reactors down south.  They are scheduled to close in 2024, and a decommissioning plan is beginning to take form.  The cost estimates have gone from $1billion in 1988 (which we then successfully determined as a base price over PG&E's objections) to $2.5b in 2012, $3.8b in 2016, and now at $4.8b.  PG&E is asking the state PUC for an additional $1.6b to be added to the existing decommissioning fund by raising customers electricity rates by as much as 5%. (1) It is doubtful that they would say no, since by law, the plant has to be decommissioned!  From an industry that has such an atrocious history of underestimating costs, some of us believe the final tab might be $10b, $15b...???? many years into the future.  Cheap nuclear power, and an answer to our climate change problems?  Then there is the issue of spent fuel...high level wastes, low level wastes, etc. etc.  Mindboggling $$$$$$ssss.

But here is the serious concern we have today.  PG&E is in bankruptcy, due in part to the climate change induced catastrophic fires that have ravaged northern California, and their liability due to “corporate” mismanagement of both their electricity and natural gas divisions.  $34 billion in debt...whatever all that means.   One of their largest assets is Diablo Canyon.  What happens to that...do they keep it, even though it is in reality a money loser compared to natural gas and now renewables.  Do they sell it to someone to raise cash? (2) That is being done in other states, such as the shut down “Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant which recently sold to the Northstar Group for a symbolic and nominal $1,000...plus its $506 million decommissioning trust fund.”  Decom estimates for that plant now stand at $1.2b.  The new owners say they can decommission it at a lower cost.  Maybe!!!  What happens down the road if they can't...gosh, they might go into bankruptcy, pay off the executives and lawyers huge bonuses, and leave the folks in Vermont continuing to foot the bill.  Westinghouse, General Electric, GM, PG&E...  Can that happen with Diablo Canyon?  They have a federal nuclear license that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees...gosh, the federal government is shut down...and even if/when it is up and running again, this dysfunctional agency will play the political games with the industry that they have been playing for so many years.  We've got to keep our eyes on these guys...it is ultimately the “little guy” that gets screwed.

The nuclear industry continues to push the idea that nuclear power is the answer to climate change.  Not true!!  Partially solving one problem and creating a whole host of others.  Ongoing efforts to clean up the “back end” of nuclear power continues to drain billions of dollars from ratepayers and taxpayers.  San Onofre, Oyster Creek, Vogle, Hanford, Fukushima, the UK...the list goes on and on around the world.  Japan, which has only one reactor running out of 53 in their fleet, estimates it would need to spend about 1.9 trillion yen ($17.1 billion) to close 79 facilities over the next 70 years, in its first such estimate.(3) Pretty cheap estimate, as usual.  The current estimate for Fukushima is close to $200b.  Still no solution to wastes disposal issues.  Beyond mindboggling!

Meanwhile, in spite of ALL the obstacles placed on renewables by the current administration, the outlook is good, and could really be 10x better if we put our minds and dollars to it.  “EIA’s latest inventory of electric generators estimates that 23.7 gigawatts of new capacity additions and 8.3 gigawatts of capacity retirements are expected for the U.S. electric power sector in 2019. The utility-scale capacity additions consist of wind (46 percent), natural gas (34 percent), and solar photovoltaics (18 percent), with the remaining 2 percent consisting primarily of other renewables and battery storage capacity.”(4)  According to a 2018 Wood Mackenzie market report, “between 2018 and 2022, U.S. distributed solar installations will grow from today’s roughly 2 million to almost 3.8 million. Behind-the-meter battery storage is also expected to grow from 200 megawatts to almost 1,400 megawatts during the same timeframe.” (5) 

The electricity industry (generators, transm1ssion, distribution, grid operators, federal and state PUCs) is in utter turmoil.  Common sense and common cents will hopefully prevail, because the “green” transition is so very doable.  Stay wake, aware, and tuned in!!!