While Californians have invested tens of billions of dollars into the state’s nuclear power plants, the amount has never been comprehensively tallied. The numbers below represent disparate funding threads--some are still to be invested, some investments are paid off, while others are still reaping interest on investment. There has been roughly about $40 billion in nuclear financing to date. That includes the following past and ongoing investments: -Diablo Canyon’s sunk costs were $28 billion by the time deregulation cancelled the books on utilities’ power plants, according to the Division of Ratepayer Advocates. -San Onofre construction costs amounted to $9 billion, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That does not include the utility’s return on investment. -Humboldt Bay’s construction costs were $63 million, also not factoring Pacific Gas & Electric’s return on investment. The plant was retired in 1976 because it sits within a few hundred feet of three earthquake faults. The radioactive parts and spent fuel remain on site. -Both operating plants (San Onofre units 2 and 3, and Diablo Canyon) replaced their “engines”--known as steam generators--for $1.5 billion around 2009. Utilities can earn a return on that investment of up to 11.5 percent. -PG&E seeks $85 million for costs associated with pursuing a federal license extension for Diablo Canyon. -San Onofre’s owners, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, applied for $64 million in seismic studies, and Edison wants a $10 million account for extra unknown expenses -PG&E is spending $17 million already authorized for seismic inquiries. The utility has pending at the commission another $63 million in planned seismic data study investments.
