There's Growing Local Support for Extending Life of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant

Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, May 18, 2026

• Nuclear advocates are pushing to keep Diablo Canyon – California’s only running nuclear power plant – open even longer than planned. The plant passed its final hurdle to run until 2030 last month, but legislators are talking about extending that expiration date even further. And while lawmakers debate how long Diablo Canyon should stay open, local support for the nuclear plant is growing.

Life for California’s last nuclear power plant could be extended

The most striking view off one of San Luis Obispo County’s winding coastal roads is not the lashing ocean waves of the Pacific Ocean or cows plodding out from the shade of a California live oak tree.

It is two enormous concrete domes that come into focus along a final climb that began 7 miles back at Avila Beach. The land sinks away, and what looks like a small town emerges, showcased in a palette of grays, whites and terracotta. This is Diablo Canyon, California’s last operating nuclear power plant.

Just years ago, the plant was slated to close, and employees worked to decommission it, until a 2022 about-face by Gov. Gavin Newsom led the state to extend its operations to 2030. Now lawmakers in Sacramento are talking about allowing it to operate even longer, potentially to 2045. But there’s debate locally on whether keeping the facility open is a good idea.

On the Cal Poly Campus in San Luis Obispo, a student advocacy club is hosting a meeting. It’s called “Nuclear is Clean Energy”, or “NICE”. Club president Zach Mousharrafie said their work on-campus has been pretty easy, since none of their fellow students seem to be anti-nuclear. “We haven’t experienced a nuclear disaster in our generation. Fukushima was in the 2010s? I was six years old,” he said.

Diablo Canyon is about a 20-minute drive from this classroom. Advocates, like Mousharrafie from the student club, want to keep it open until 2045.  “We need to build huge amounts of clean power cause the climate crisis is a now issue,” he said.

Mothers for Peace is one of the activist groups that has fought against Diablo in the 70s and 80s. But Linda Seeley, who joined the movement shortly after moving to the Central Coast in 1982 said things are definitely different these days. “Nuclear is normalized now,” she said.

Ann Bisconti is a researcher who studies public opinion around nuclear energy. She said support has increased nationally since the 80s. “  There is lot more activism among those who are for nuclear energy.,” she said. “What we always find is that people living within the 10 mile radius are very supportive of the local plant. They know people who work there. They go to church, they go to synagogue, they play baseball. ”

Nuclear generates nearly 9% of the state’s energy supply, part of an energy mix that includes gas, hydroelectric, solar, wind, geothermal and even small amounts of coal. While California’s demand for electricity has been flat for years, it’s now growing with the adoption of electric vehicles, people swapping gas appliances for electric ones, and data centers. The debate to keep Diablo Canyon open is spurred, in part, by this uptick in demand.