Oil Leak Triggers Insulation Fire at Diablo Plant

A smoldering insulation fire that shut down the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and injured two people was triggered by an oil leak, utility officials said.

About 10 gallons of oil leaked onto hot insulation at the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. plant’s Unit One turbine Friday night, causing a fire that smoldered for nearly an hour, said utility spokesman Jim Kilpatrick.

“About 10 gallons of oil leaked on some insulation,” Kilpatrick said. “Because there was heat, it began to smolder.”

There was no release of radiation from the 5:40 p.m. fire, which caused the reactor shutdown, but two people were treated for heat exhaustion before plant firefighters extinguished the blaze at 6:34 p.m., Kilpatrick said.

Exhausted by Heat

The injured workers “were wearing asbestos suits and became exhausted by heat,” Kilpatrick said. One worker was treated at the scene and the other was taken to French Hospital Medical Center, which would release no information.

There was no evacuation at the plant 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, he said.