With a vote looming in California’s legislature, the American Nuclear Society has called for the swift passage of a bill that would extend Diablo Canyon nuclear power station’s operational life by five years and give owner and operator Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) a $1.4bn (€1bn) forgivable loan.

“A clean, affordable and reliable grid requires a strong backbone of always-on and available baseload generation like Diablo Canyon,” ANS president Steven Arndt and executive director/chief executive officer Craig Piercy wrote in a letter to the legislature.