PG&E held an engagement panel Wednesday night, meant to open the conversation between the public and PG&E representatives.
It’s the first of many public meetings expectedbetween now and when denuclearization is slated to start in 2025.
A panel of 11 community representatives, hand-picked by PG&E, all want to be involved in the planning that comes with the closure of Diablo Canyon for different reasons.
"Safe storage of nuclear fuels and also the potential for transport and wanting it to be safe," said Sherri Danoff, a panelist.
"I am concerned about the land use about re-purposing the infrastructure," said Dena Bellman, a panelist.
"I’m also very interested in the financial impacts on the community as a taxpayer and a ratepayer," said Scott Lathrop, another one of the 11 panelists.
Part of the panel’s goal is to collect public input and communicate that with PG&E.
"I think the decision we’re going to make, this isn’t for me, this is for the next generations," said Frank Mecham, one of the panelists and a former county supervisor. "Hopefully we can find some type of continuity in some of those ideas."
Wednesday night’s meeting was the start of a long conversation.
"Nuclear waste, what happens with that, how do you deal with that? We’ll be having an entire meeting to discuss those issues. The other issue is land use, who will make the final determinations? You have California State Lands, you have California Coastal Commission, you have the Planning Commission here in San Luis Obispo County… so there’s a variety of agencies that will be weighing in on all of these," said Mecham.
"We’ll also be putting together a cost analysis for what it will take to decommission the site," said Blair Jones, a PG&E representative.
Any decommission plans will need to be approved by the state and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The next public meeting is scheduled for June 27.
