"Japan's unfolding reactor crisis is fueling a battle over nuclear power across the Pacific, in earthquake-prone California.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the big California utility, is seeking a 20-year license extension for its two reactors at Diablo Canyon, a nuclear power plant near San Luis Obispo, on the state's central coast.

That application, controversial even before an earthquake and tsunami crippled Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant last month, is now shaping up as a major test of Americans' tolerance of nuclear power, especially in areas at high risk for natural disasters.

Local politicians are lining up to fight the license extension, arguing that the process should be put on hold while PG&E studies the area's earthquake risk. "

Ben Casselman reports for the Wall St. Journal April 9, 2011. [2]