national and global policies to curb energy over-use and unnecessary economic growth.”

The Sierra Club‘s perspective on nuclear power seems to be based exactly on the kind of broad brush justifications described by Shellenberger in his New York Times OP ED.

State Lands Commission keeps coastal leases in place

The San Luis Obispo News reports that in the first key action of the closure plan, that the California State Lands Commission on June 28 extended a lease for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The action avoids a plant shutdown in 2018 when the lease expires for the seawater intake and outflow structures that feed the facility’s cooling system.

The three-member commission, which consists of Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Controller Betty Yee and State Finance Director Michael Cohen, voted unanimously toextend the lease to 2025 when PG&E intends to close Diablo Canyon.

At issue were the two leases the State Lands Commission issued for the cooling water infrastructure in 1969 and 1970. One was for seawater intake and breakwaters; the other was for the plant’s water discharge channel. PG&E applied to combine the two leases into one and renew it to 2025 to coincide with the shutdown date.

Diablo Canyon uses once-through cooling which relies seawater to condense steam from the plant’s electrical generators. The seawater is then discharged back into the ocean.

Environmental groups have lobbied for years to shut down the reactors on the basis of sea life killed by the intake of sea water and the temperature rise, about 20F, of the water released back to the ocean.