We Had to Destroy the Fish in Order to Save Them

PG&E operates the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, located near San Luis Obispo is due for a permit to extend its life for another twenty years of delivering electricity to California. Recently, an undersea fault line was discovered in the oceans off San Luis Obispo. In order to get a permit, PG&E must conduct a seismic survey as required by state law.

PG&E has been directed to conduct the survey by the California Energy Commission (CEC) as required by Assembly Bill 1632, authored by Senator Sam Blakeslee. The legislation was enacted in 2006.

To comply with the state law PG&E must recover the costs of the survey from their rate payers, the public. However,

. . .an administrative judge with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) put PG&E on notice that it first must complete high-energy, three-dimensional offshore studies to determine the exact force and velocity of the new fault line discovered three years ago just a few hundred yards off the coast from the nuclear power plant.

Meanwhile, fishermen in the area are very concerned. Presumably, the seismic study is to ensure that the environment in the area is protected, including the fish in the bay, however, the seismic study is likely to kill many fish.

In the midst of many fishers voicing alarm over what they believe will be devastating impacts to fisheries from San Luis Bay to Cambria, the first official environmental impact report on PG&E's proposed deep-water seismic studies of faults that could affect the safety of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant is tentatively being planned for release in draft form in January by the California State Lands Commission.
. . .
In its notice of preparation of the DEIR, the Commission noted that ever since 1987, there has been "mounting evidence of the potentially significant effects of 'high-energy' survey equipment . . . on marine fish (including eggs and larvae), mammals, and reptiles, both behaviorally and physiologically . . . "

Unconfirmed rumor is that fishermen are being offered serious coin to offset the loss of income if the tests are carried out.

Meanwhile environmentalists are attempting to stop a low carbon source of electricity, while AB32 is requiring new sources of low carbon electricity. I love the stupidity of this state. If we don't totally destroy our own economy, I will be shocked.

(H/T to Dawn Wildman of the SCRTC.)

Nuclear Power and Disasters

Let me start this post by saying that I have supervised the operation of nuclear power plants and consider them safe. However, today's events in Japan illustrate a weakness of nuclear power that is lost in the concern over radiation safety. By their nature, nuclear power requires the centralization and concentration of the production of electricity. This is an inherent weakness from a safety and security perspective. Any untoward event, whether an earthquake such as in Japan, or a terrorist attack, takes a large percentage of the electrical generating capacity off line. This further complicates the recovery efforts.

It would seem more prudent to have a much more dispersed generating capability. The electrical grid itself has many of the properties of the internet in terms of its reach and scope, but is much more vulnerable to the centralization of production. Unfortunately, since electric utilities are regulated monopolies, the incentives to innovate are few. As the true cost of solar power drops, it may become a real alternative to the traditional model of production. However, I would like to see businesses who have a need for secure power be allowed to run their own micro-generators and sell back power to the grid. Economic incentives are needed because such a model is not advantageous to the power companies, who are government monopolies.

We had some bad experiences with attempting to bring competition to power generation, mostly because of the perverse incentives built into the legislation, such as prohibiting the transmission companies from buying long term contracts. But the idea of introducing more competition deserves further consideration because it would diversify production and enhance security.