PhotoCalifornia, among the first states to embrace nuclear energy in the 1950s, may be breaking things off for good. But nuclear plants provide nearly 60 percent of the country’s carbon dioxide-free power. “California’s energy landscape is changing dramatically, with energy efficiency, renewables and storage being central to the state’s energy policy,” Tony Earley, PG&E’s chief executive, said in a prepared statement. A rise in greenhouse gas emissions has tended to follow closings of nuclear plants, as they have most often been replaced by natural gas. Under a proposal announced on Tuesday, Pacific Gas and Electric would shutter the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, the state’s last operating nuclear facility, and would compensate for the lost output with technologies that do not emit greenhouse gases, including renewable energy.

Source: New York Times June 21, 2016 12:56 UTC