California just made a controversial power move in its fight against climate change. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially approved the operating licenses for Diablo Canyon Power Plant, the state’s largest carbon-free power source, allowing it to keep running through 2030. Governor Newsom is calling it a win for the state’s clean energy future, but not everyone’s convinced that nuclear power is the answer we need.

Here’s what went down: Back in 2022, Newsom championed Senate Bill 846, which basically hit the brakes on Diablo Canyon’s planned shutdown. Originally, the plant was supposed to close in 2024 and 2025, but the state legislature decided that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, they extended its life and secured up to $1.1 billion in federal funding to make it work.

Now that the NRC has approved the license renewals, Diablo Canyon will continue pumping out about 10 percent of California’s total electricity, and get this, 16 percent of our zero-carbon power. That’s a massive chunk of clean energy in a state that’s trying to move away from fossil fuels while also dealing with increasingly intense summer heat waves and growing electricity demand.

The plant provides stable electricity costs that aren’t tied to volatile fossil fuel prices, which is huge when you’re trying to keep energy affordable for everyone. Plus, it gives the state more breathing room to bring renewable resources like solar and wind online without worrying about grid reliability.

But here’s the thing: This extension only lasts through 2030. Even though the NRC technically relicensed the plant until 2044 and 2045, California law says any operation beyond 2030 would need the state legislature to sign off again. So this isn’t a permanent solution, it’s a temporary bridge while the state figures out its long-term clean energy strategy.

Newsom’s administration is definitely talking up California’s climate credentials. Greenhouse gas emissions are down 21 percent since 2000, even as the state’s economy grew 81 percent and became the world’s fourth-largest economy. In 2023, California ran on two-thirds clean energy, the first major economy to hit that milestone. The state’s also been hitting 100 percent clean electricity for parts of many days this year.

Battery storage capacity has exploded by over 2,100 percent under the Newsom administration, reaching nearly 17,000 megawatts, and more than 30,000 megawatts of new resources have been added to the grid. California now has about a third of the storage capacity it’ll need by 2045 to reach 100 percent clean electricity.

So yeah, keeping Diablo Canyon online through 2030 is part of California’s broader push toward a clean grid. Whether nuclear power is the best long-term move is still up for debate, but for now, the state’s banking on it as a key piece of the puzzle.