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Diablo Canyon power plant begins scheduled maintenance and refueling outage on unit 2
Planned outages provide a major economic boost to the San Luis Obispo region; More than 1,000 supplemental workers brought in to help with plant improvements
October 6, 2014
AVILA BEACH, Calif.– Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced that Unit 2 at Diablo Canyon Power Plant was safely shut down on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014 for a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage.
In total, nearly 120,000 person-hours will be invested to enhance the operation of Unit 2 and to meet PG&E’s commitment to provide safe, affordable, reliable and emissions-free electricity through Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
During the outage, more than 1,000 highly-trained supplemental workers from around the country will provide a major economic boost to the San Luis Obispo region as they lodge in hotels and shop at local businesses, while working with PG&E employees to conduct thorough safety inspections and complete general plant improvements to enhance electric reliability.
"Diablo Canyon plays a major role in helping PG&E safely generate and deliver to its customers some of the nation's cleanest electricity," said PG&E Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Ed Halpin. "Preparation for the thousands of activities our team will perform has been ongoing for more than a year. The refueling outage and equipment upgrades will ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of Diablo Canyon and provide an important economic boost to the communities in which our employees live and our company serves."
Major work to be performed includes replacing a portion of the Unit 2 reactor fuel, performing maintenance and testing on systems and components that are not readily accessible during regular plant operation. Similar work was performed on Unit 1 during a planned refueling outage earlier this year.
Each of Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s two reactor units is safely refueled about every 18 months. Unit 1 will continue to safely generate electricity while Unit 2 is offline.
About Diablo Canyon Power Plant
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 carbon-free power. It provides nearly 10 percent of all electricity generated in California, and enough energy to meet the needs of more than three million Northern and Central Californians. Diablo Canyon has a $920 million annual local economic impact and is the largest private employer in San Luis Obispo County.
About PG&E
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 more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/about/newsroom.