We are on the brink of the hottest months of the year. For those of us in California this means getting ready for the nuisance of rolling blackouts, as the power grid gets stretched beyond its capacity. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Sammy Roth of the Los Angeles Times about the ongoing challenge to transform electricity in the nation's most populous state. First, we learn about California's last nuclear plant, the soon-to-be shuttered Diablo Canyon, and examine the pros and cons of shutting down a plant that produces almost 10% of the state's energy portfolio. Then we take a look at how NIMBYism, the local backlash against proposed development, plays a role in the switch to renewable power sources.

Narrator  0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

Sammy Roth (SR)  0:18  It does look like the administration is at least open to you know figuring out other ways to support existing nukes to keep them open. But what that looks like in practice and how controversial it gets politically is you have to be soon.

Narrator  0:31  We are on the brink of the hottest months of the year. For those of us in California. This means getting ready for the nuisance of rolling blackouts as the power grid gets stretched beyond its capacity. This week on seachange radio, we speak to Sammy Roth of the Los Angeles Times about the ongoing challenge to transform electricity in the nation's most populous state. First, we learn about California's last nuclear plan the soon to be shuttered Diablo Canyon and examine the pros and cons of shutting down a plant that produces almost 10% of the state's energy portfolio. Then we take a look at how NIMBYism the local backlash against proposed development plays a role in the switch to renewable power sources.

Alex Wise (AW)  1:31  I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Sammy Roth. Sammy is an energy reporter for The Los Angeles Times and also writes its weekly boiling point newsletter. Sammy, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.

Sammy Roth (SR) Hey Alex - happy to be here.

AW So you have a couple of new pieces in the Los Angeles Times that I wanted to talk to you about. One is about the story of replacing California's last nuclear power plant Diablo Canyon. I spoke to then lieutenant governor Gavin Newsome about this a few years ago, and he was adamant that nuclear did not have a role in California's future. But the rollout to kind of replace Diablo Canyon with clean fuel has not been as smooth as planned. Why don't you explain the conundrum that policymakers are facing in the state?

SR  2:24  Yeah, it's a really tricky issue. So I mean, nuclear has been, as you sort of alluded to pretty hated by a lot of people in California for a long time. I mean, even when this plant got built in the late 1970s, early 1980s, there was a huge amount of activism against it because of, you know, perceived and potentially very real earthquake risk. And, you know, Jerry Brown, who was governor at the time, the first time was sort of, you know, one of the leaders of this anti Diablo movement, but it got built. And finally, a couple of years ago, pg&e and all the environmental groups got together and sort of hammered out an agreement to shut the thing down. The issue is, so it's a big, big power plant. It's it's 2300 megawatts. You know, for context, California has about 80,