Judge backs billion-dollar reduction to PG&E's cost estimate for closing Diablo Canyon

Hearings for Pacific Gas and Electric’s decommissioning plan for the Diablo Canyon Power Plant got underway Wednesday before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). In a parallel case concerning PG&E’s request to raise customer rates to cover its nuclear decommissioning costs, a CPUC administrative law judge issued a proposed decision Thursday to deny PG&E’s multi-billion dollar cost estimate for closing Diablo Canyon, reducing it by $1.4 billion.