Unit 1 at Diablo Canyon Enters Planned Refueling and Maintenance Outage

April 24, 2017


AVILA BEACH, Calif. — Operators at Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) Diablo Canyon Power Plant today safely removed Unit 1 from service to begin a planned refueling and maintenance outage.

 

“Safety is our core value at PG&E. Our team’s focus during this outage is to safely perform those activities that will put Unit 1 in a position to continue to operate safely, reliably and affordably,” said Ed Halpin, Senior Vice President, Generation and Chief Nuclear Officer.

 

During this outage, full-time and contract workers will replace a portion of the reactor fuel, perform maintenance, and test systems and components that are not accessible during normal plant operations. It is estimated that more than 157,000 person-hours will be invested in this outage, which will be comprised of more than 30 major projects.

 

This outage will bring additional economic activity to San Luis Obispo County as the additional 1,400 outage workers – some of whom are coming to the area from as far away as Germany – will spend their money locally on a variety of goods and services, as well as housing.

 

Each of Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s two reactor units is safely refueled approximately every 20 months. Unit 2 will continue to safely generate electricity while Unit 1 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.

 

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 energy companies 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/news.