Diablo Canyon Reactor Shuts Down; Officials Report No Radiation Leak
The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant’s reactor automatically shut down Wednesday night during a test, but utility officials said there was never any danger of radiation escaping from the controversial $5.4-billion-dollar plant.
During the test, engineers were seeking to determine what the response would be in the event of a sudden drop in output from the main generator at the Avila Beach plant near San Luis Obispo. Officials of Pacific Gas & Electric could not say when the Unit 1 reactor would be cranked back up to 50% of generating capacity, the level at which it was running and producing 500,000 kilowatts of power.
PG&E; spokesman Ron Weinberg called the exercise a “load reduction test.”
The reactor has automatically shut down several times during several weeks of similar testing.
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