Pacific Gas and Electric has asked regulators to postpone issuance of a license extension for its Diablo Canyon reactors in California until the company completes an extensive seismic study.
The two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors came online in the mid 1980s and their licenses expire in 2024 and 2025, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. PG&E is in the process of obtaining 20-year license renewals at the plant, but the utility requested in a letter to NRC dated Sunday that the extensions not be granted until the utility submits 3-D seismic studies.
The San Luis Obispo Tribune reported that PG&E also will speed up its research. The company began low-impact studies last year and plans to complete high-energy studies offshore and along the Los Osos Valley and the Irish Hills, pending state permits. That work should be complete by 2015.
Diablo Canyon sits roughly 180 miles up the coast from Los Angeles. It has drawn intense scrutiny from California lawmakers and environmental groups since reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant were destroyed after a tsunami-triggered station blackout March 11.