John Parsons

Keeping California's last operating nuclear station, Diablo Canyon, running from 2030 to 2045 could offer net savings of capital and operating costs totaling more than $7.6 billion, or more than $500 million per year of continued operations, according to a new analysis by senior lecturer John Parsons, a research affiliate with the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.

Keeping California's only nuclear power plant running could save the state billions of dollars. That's the conclusion of a new research commentary by senior lecturer John Parsons. Extending the Diablo Canyon Power Plant's state permission to operate from its current 2030 cap to the 2045 timeline that federal regulators recently approved could save California ratepayers $7.6 billion to $20 billion, wrote Parsons.

Senior lecturer John Parsons said: "I personally welcome the renewed interest in nuclear, and I think it can serve the people of Virginia, as well as my region here in New England and elsewhere. I'm a little concerned about a mismatch between the time horizon on which some of these are being advertised, although I think that will take care of itself."

"The goal here is to produce electricity cheaper than coal and gas plants," senior lecturer John Parsons said. These fossil fuel plants are "extremely simple and cheap to operate — they're just dirty," he added.