Governor Brown signs Diablo Canyon bill

October 3, 2015

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law Assembly Bill 361 which provides continued funding for two Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant oversight bodies.

AB 361 was authored by Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian (R-San Luis Obispo) and coauthored by Senators Bill Monning (D-Carmel) and Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara). The bill received unanimous, bipartisan support in the Legislature and will take effect immediately.

“It is imperative that we ensure that our local governments have the necessary funding tools to continue their emergency response planning for any disaster that could occur at Diablo Canyon,” Achadjian said. “AB 361 is also a responsible step to ensure that an independent peer review panel will continue to review seismic testing results at the Power Plant.”

AB 361 extends the sunset date to continue funding emergency planning programs for Diablo Canyon Power Plant to 2025. After integrating the language contained in Senator Monning’s Senate Bill 657, the bill also requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to continue its independent peer review panel, which conducts an independent review of enhanced seismic studies of the plant, until 2025.

“Safety is of the utmost importance when it comes to the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant,” Monning said. “I am proud to have worked with Assemblymember Achadjian to ensure the region has the needed seismic safety research about the power plant and the funding of emergency planning programs to help protect local communities.”

Diablo Canyon was set to stop paying into the nuclear planning assessment special account, which helps assure the maintenance of the state’s nuclear emergency programs, in 2019, which is before its current license expires.

The independent peer review panel’s contract with the CPUC was also set to expire in 2015, even though it has not completed its review of the studies and findings of Diablo Canyon Power Plant. The panel analyzes seismic surveys and reports, and is slated to be instrumental during ongoing federal re-evaluation of the seismic and flooding risks of the plant and potential plant re-licensure.