Californian energy regulators voted December 14 to allow the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant to continue to operate for five additional years despite calls from environmental groups to shut the facility down.

According to the Associated Press, the California Public Utilities Commission agreed to extend the shutdown of the state’s last functioning nuclear power plant through 2030 instead of closing the venue down in 2025 as originally planned. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still considering extending the facility’s operating license.

In 2016, Pacific Gas & Electric (the plant’s operator) agreed to shut down operations at the facility in 2025. However, the company decided to change course at the direction of the state of California and now intends to keep the plant running beyond 2025.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said in 2022 that Diablo Canyon’s power is needed beyond 2025 in order to prevent possible blackouts as the state transitions to other renewable energy sources.

Activists criticized the plant’s operating extension and said the cost of keeping the facility running could exceed $6 billion.

Over the summer, a California state judge rejected a lawsuit filed by the non-governmental environmental organization Friends of the Earth that aimed to block Pacific Gas & Electric from extending the venue’s operating life. In October, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected a request from environmental groups to shut down one of the plant's two reactors.

The twin reactors, which commenced operations in the mid-1980s, currently supply the state with 9% of its electricity on any given day.