Diablo Canyon Celebration?

I know this will sound heretical to many, and probably even to Pacific Gas & Electric employees, but I bet that in 50 years, the same kind of celebration that we are seeing now for the 50th anniversary of Hoover Dam will surround the half-century anniversary of the Diablo Canyon nuclear facility.

Why? Because in about 30 years the plant will have been paid for. Recent studies show that because of the way these plants are built, they are very likely to operate for 50 years. (Many utilities and engineering companies are examining “life extension” as an option to decommissioning a power plant--especially since the 30- to 40-year federal operating permit is renewable and is not based on any physical or engineering limitations of the power plant.)

In addition, while the price of oil is low now, and according to most experts will stay that way for at least a decade, when we’re looking at 50 years, no one believes that oil prices will stay down. Rising oil prices will drag up coal and other fuel prices, leaving the lifetime, virtually fixed cost, of nuclear electricity from Diablo Canyon looking better every year. Even conservative estimates (including those of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment) for the future cost of oil and other energy commodities show that, over just 30 years of operating life, a power plant like Diablo Canyon will save billions of dollars.

Californians in the year 2035 will probably be celebrating the long operation of a power plant that produces enough electricity for 1 million people and saves billions of their hard-earned dollars while not polluting the fragile environment, and students of social phenomena will be studying the public furor surrounding its construction.

WILLIAM H. SMITH

Claremont