Diablo Canyon Power Plant begins scheduled maintenance and refueling outage on Unit 1

Work supports continued safe, reliable and efficient plant operations

AVILA BEACH, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced that Unit 1 at Diablo Canyon Power Plant was safely shut down for scheduled refueling and maintenance.

 

During the planned outage, PG&E personnel – along with 1,000 additional temporary employees – will replace a portion of the reactor fuel and perform maintenance, as well as test systems and components that are not readily accessible during regular plant operation. A new digital process control system also will be installed which will further enhance PG&E’s ability to monitor and safely operate the unit.

 

"Diablo Canyon Power Plant plays a central role in helping PG&E generate and deliver to its customers some of the nation’s cleanest electricity," said Site Vice President Jim Becker. "The work we perform during refueling outages fully supports our ongoing commitment to operate the facility in a safe, efficient and reliable manner, and provides an important economic boost to the communities we serve and where our employees live."

 

Having both units operating at full capacity plays an important role in meeting the energy needs for residents and businesses throughout northern and central California. Each of Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s two reactors is refueled once about every 18 months. Unit 1 ran for 525 consecutive days since the completion of the last refueling outage, which ended on Nov. 13, 2010. The unit remained safely connected to the transmission grid for the entire fuel cycle. Unit 2 continues to safely operate at full power.

 

Diablo Canyon Power Plant is a nuclear power facility owned and operated by PG&E. Its two units together produce approximately 2,300 net megawatts of greenhouse-gas-free electricity, about 10 percent of all electricity generated in California, and enough energy to meet the needs of more than three million Northern and Central Californians.

 

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to 15 million people in northern and central California. For more information, visit pge.com/about.