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Managing decline: Devaluation and just transition at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant

Author

Listed:
  • Sara Nelson

    (Centre for Climate Justice, 8166University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada)

  • M. V. Ramana

    (Liu Institute for Global Issues, 8166University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada)

Abstract

This paper examines the shifting fortunes of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in California to better understand how asset owners are dealing with an increasingly-significant problem in changing energy landscapes: the devaluation of large fixed capital assets. In 2016, Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced a Joint Proposal to retire the Diablo Canyon plant by 2025, the result of a negotiated compromise with labor unions, environmental and community groups. Heralded by many commentators as a model for “just transitions†in the energy sector, this agreement has lately been called into question as new subsidies and political coalitions have emerged to support for the plant's continued operation. This paper investigates the political and economic conditions for the Joint Proposal as an example of “negotiated devaluation,†aiming to understand why and how this strategy took shape, and what lessons it offers for other transition processes. Linking literatures on just transitions and devaluation in the energy sector, we show how negotiated devaluation may offer an emerging strategy for owners of energy assets to manage decline in a changing energy landscape. The case also demonstrates the political contingency of these coalitions and the transitions they subtend, and the limited dimensions of justice that might be affirmed in them.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Nelson & M. V. Ramana, 2023. "Managing decline: Devaluation and just transition at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(8), pages 1951-1969, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:55:y:2023:i:8:p:1951-1969
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X231167865
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    References listed on IDEAS

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