The Committee

The DCISC, a California state advisory public body, was created in 1989 by the California Public Utilities Commission and consists of three members, one each appointed by the Governor of the State of California, the California Attorney General and the Chairperson of the California Energy Commission, respectively, serving staggered three-year terms. The Committee is charged with reviewing Pacific Gas & Electric Company's (PG&E) Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant (DCPP) operations for the purpose of making recommendations appropriate to enhance the safety of operations. Neither the Committee nor its members have any responsibility or authority for plant operations, nor do they have any authority to direct PG&E personnel. The Committee conforms in all respects to applicable state and federal laws, regulations, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) policies.

For more information, interested persons are encouraged to review the information available on the Committee's website at www.dcsic.org including the Committee's Annual Reports on the Safety of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant Operations and the archived videos of past DCISC public meetings.

The Engagement

Compensation is furnished on an hourly basis, and all expenses incurred by the consultant in furtherance of the scope of services are fully reimbursed. Reimbursement includes time spent on travel.

The Committee's Operations

The DCISC typically conducts three public meetings during each fiscal year in the San Luis Obispo area and nine or more fact-finding, typically two-day visits to the plant site in Avila Beach, conducted by one Committee member accompanied by one technical consultant. The DCISC technical consultants are all expected to attend in person and participate in each public meeting. A willingness to travel frequently to the San Luis Obispo area is required.

Fact Finding

A very important facet of a technical consultant's duties includes accompanying and supporting the member conducting the fact finding visit and helping to develop the topical agenda for the fact finding meeting  through reference to the Committee's Open Items List and then working with the Committee's liaison at DCPP to arrange the schedule for the visit to the plant site and for the availability of DCPP subject matter experts who will meet with the fact-finding team. On occasion, fact findings may be conducted at other locations as necessary. Attending in person and then documenting these visits in reports and making presentations summarizing the visits at the next DCISC public meeting are very important aspects of the technical consultant's responsibility. Fact finding visits are conducted for purposes reviewing plant programs, systems, safety cultural aspects, assessing the status of and receiving updates on issues under Committee review and on emergent issues. Fact finding visits include meetings  with PG&E officers, directors, managers, and employees and with the NRC resident inspection team, following up on issues appearing on the DCISC's Open Items List, and touring areas of the power plant and inspecting systems, equipment, structures, and components and observing work being performed in the plant.

It is anticipated that each consultant would  typically participate and be assigned an average of three fact findings each  year. Dates of the fact findings are usually selected one year in advance.

 These fact-finding visits also include identifying agenda items for presentation at future public meetings. The fact-finding visits usually occupy two days of intensive activities at the site and during these visits Committee representatives frequently observe meetings of PG&E's internal safety review organizations and committees.

A detailed technical report is prepared by the participating consultant after each fact finding regarding the topics reviewed during the visit and is first reviewed by the participating member. A Committee Policy and a fact-finding timeline for the workflow have been prepared to provide guidance on the process of developing the topics for the visit and for reviewing and completing the fact-finding reports. Comments concerning these reports are separately sought from each of the other two members, in compliance with the Bagley-Keene Act, and from the other technical consultants. Copies of past fact finding reports may be reviewed on the Committee's website.

Public Meetings

Dates and times for the Committee's public meetings are usually determined a year in advance. Diablo Canyon personnel, generally at the director or manager levels, are present and make informational presentations on topics requested by the members and on which Committee representatives have met previously with Diablo Canyon personnel during fact finding. The Committee's technical consultants also make separate presentations on fact findings conducted since the last public meeting. Certain public meetings may include a tour of the power plant with the Committee which is open to a limited number of members of the public. Each session of a public meeting includes an opportunity for the public to address comments and provide information to the Committee.

PG&E provides numerous documents on a continuing basis and these are made available through an electronic reading room hosted by Certrec, a secure internet-based document library. Some documents are designated by PG&E as proprietary or otherwise confidential and these are accessible through a separate "read only" Certrec library. Consultants have a duty and a professional obligation to maintain any such information as confidential.

Fact finding reports are made available to PG&E and the public on the Committee's website (www.dcisc.org) prior to each public meeting and, when approved by the Committee at a public meeting, the fact-finding reports are provided to PG&E. Fact-finding Reports are included as a part of the Committee's Annual Reports and constitute, along with the Open items List, an essential component of documenting the Committee's safety review function.

The Open Items List

The Open Items List is one of the most important tools used by the Committee to set priorities, track and to follow issues, concerns, information requests and activities or documents identified for subsequent action or receipt during fact-finding or public meetings and each public meeting includes an agenda item for a comprehensive review of the Open Items List. The technical consultants work together between the public meetings, both in using the Open Items List to develop topics for fact finding agendas and to update and revise the Open Items List based on direction from the members and on the developments identified from the fact finding meetings in the interval between the public meetings. The Open Items List is included with the publicly available agenda packet for each public meeting and Committee dialogue with members of the public often results in items being added to the list. The Open Items List provides important information on topics reviewed, the scope and nature of Committee inquiries, and past, present, and future activities in furtherance of addressing each item on the list.

The Annual Report

The DCISC publishes an Annual Report covering the period July 1 through June 30. The report is a comprehensive review and a detailed description of all the Committee's activities during the report period including the public meetings and the fact-finding visits. The report is approved at the Committee's fall meeting and the preparation of the report involves all technical consultants who are assigned various sections to complete in accordance with the subjects covered during their fact-finding visits. In addition to summarizing the Committee's activities and its review of Diablo Canyon operations, the Annual Report documents the members' conclusions and recommendations regarding Diablo Canyon operational safety. In its thirty-six  Annual Reports, through 2025-2026, the DCISC has made 187 formal recommendations to PG&E for enhancing the safety of Diablo Canyon operations. PG&E provides a written response to each recommendation and this response is included and published as a part of that Annual Report. The Committee reviews PG&E's response to each recommendation and either accepts the response or takes other action as may be appropriate.

The Annual Report is sent to the Governor, the Chair of the Energy Commission, the Attorney General, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Legislature (Senate and Assembly), the NRC, and others. All of the Annual Reports are available for review at the Special Collections and Archives Department at the R.E. Kennedy Library, located on the campus of California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo ("Cal Poly") and the Annual Reports are provided to local public libraries and published on the DCISC website, www.dcisc.org.

The Selection Process

The Committee's technical consultant selection subcommittee will review each candidate's information and select qualified candidates for interviews. Based on the results of the candidate interviews the selection subcommittee will then designate and recommend candidate(s) to the DCISC Committee members, and with their' consultation and  concurrence, that person(s) will be invited to attend the upcoming February 9-10, 2027, public meeting in Avila Beach, California, so they may observe the Committee in operation, both in session and informally, and so the members can assess the candidate's suitability for the position. 

 The invitation to the 2027 public meeting would be made in a letter offering to pay the candidate's expenses.

At the February 2027 public meeting a closed session will be included on the agenda for the three members to meet in private to discuss and consider the matter of the engagement and final selection. 

Questions should be directed to the Committee's Legal Counsel at dcsafety@dcisc.org.