Delaying the shutdown of the two-unit Diablo Canyon nuclear power station in California by 10 years to 2035 could provide multiple benefits by simultaneously helping to stabilise the state’s electric grid, provide desalinated water to supplement the area’s chronic water shortages, and provide carbon-free hydrogen fuel for transportation, according to a report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The report, by researchers including at MIT’s Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, said operation of the two pressurised water reactor units to 2035 would reduce the state’s power sector carbon emissions by more than 10% from 2017 levels and reduce reliance on gas, according to a report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It would also save $2.6bn in power system costs and bolster system reliability to mitigate brownouts.