Diablo Plant Operates at 20% of Capacity

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant inched closer to commercial operation Sunday with the Unit 1 reactor operating at 20% of capacity, a spokesman said.

Engineers at the $5.6-billion plant on the Central California coast plan to raise the power level slowly until Unit 1 is at full power by “sometime this week,” Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spokesman Ron Rutkowski said.

At full power, Unit 1 will produce about 1.1 million kilowatts of electricity.