A week of torrential rain and flooding in California that has killed more than a dozen people did not significantly affect operations at two of the Golden State’s nuclear sites, according to their owners.
Diablo Canyon Power Plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) late last week “temporarily” reduced power in the plant’s two reactors below 25% in anticipation of “an associated high-energy ocean swell event,” a utility spokesperson told RadWaste Monitor via email Thursday.
Plant staff performed “maintenance activities” at the facility’s ocean water cooling system to ensure that the intake would not be blocked by debris, the spokesperson said. Diablo Canyon’s reactors returned to 100% power over the weekend.
“We keep constant watch on the weather and oceanographic forecasts and current conditions and stand ready to adjust our operations if the situation requires us to do so,” the spokesperson said.
The San Luis Obispo County, Calif., Diablo Canyon plant is California’s only operating nuclear facility. The two reactors have a combined generating capacity of 2,400 megawatts, enough to power about 3 million homes.
Lawmakers representing San Luis Obispo this week petitioned the White House to add the county to its Monday federal state of emergency declaration for California, issued for 17 counties in response to damage and flooding from the deluge.
Meanwhile, decommissioning work at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was not significantly affected by the ongoing weather event, a spokesperson for operator Southern California Edison told RadWaste Monitor via email Wednesday. The utility implemented its “normal procedures for ensuring safe operations during inclement weather,” the spokesperson said.
The Pendleton, Calif., San Onofre plant, located along the California coast, is home to around 120 canisters of spent nuclear fuel stored at an onsite storage pad.
