The State - News from Feb. 24, 1986

The Unit 2 reactor at Diablo Canyon atomic power plant automatically shut down after a voltage regulator failed, a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spokesman said. “The regulator controls the voltage level put out by the generator,” Ron Rutkowski said. He said the reactor was operating at 90% capacity when the regulator failed on the main electrical generator, which is part of the non-nuclear side of the unit near San Luis Obispo. The reactor, which had been undergoing testing, shut down automatically, Rutkowski said. The failure will be reported to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, he said. “We want to see what the exact cause of the failure was and what areas in the generator were affected,” Rutkowski said. “Once we’ve determined that, we can start up again.” The Unit 1 reactor continued to operate at 100% capacity, he said.