Diablo Canyon Offline As Power Draw Soars

Diablo Canyon Offline As Power Draw Soars ; State Grid Loses 1,100 Megawatts so Nuclear Plant Technicians Can Fix Leaky Pipe

Jul 23 - Oakland Tribune

FOLSOM -- As electricity grid managers prepared for another day of high energy demand Thursday, one of two units at a nuclear power plant was shut down so workers could fix a leaky pipe, cutting 1,100 megawatts of electricity from the state power grid.

One of the units at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County was shut down after workers found a crack in a pipe that delivers water to cool a pump, said David Proulx, a senior inspector with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The water was not involved in reactor cooling and there was no threat of radioactive contamination, Proulx said.

"I can't overemphasize that this is clean water," Proulx said.

The two units at the plant normally produce 2,212 megawatts of electricity. One megawatt is approximately enough electricity for 750 homes. There was no estimate of how long the unit would be offline.

The plant's owner, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

The loss of electricity came a day after California set another record for electricity consumption -- reaching 44,360 megawatts Wednesday, said Stephanie McCorkle, spokeswoman for the Independent System Operator, which manages much of the state's power grid.

Wednesday was the third day in a row that California broke records for electricity use, as air conditioners continued to provide relief from above-average temperatures blanketing most of the state. Temperatures in the Sacramento-area were forecast to top 100 again Thursday, but McCorkle said grid managers didn't expect electricity use to top Wednesday's record.

The good news Thursday was that a "nice layer of fog" rolled into the Bay Area, she said, dropping temperatures by a few degrees.

"Shaving a couple degrees off doesn't sound like a lot, but it means 400 or 500 megawatts that we don't have to line up," McCorkle said.

Power grid managers don't expect the high electricity demand to trigger a repeat of the blackouts that hit the state in 2001. More power plants have been built around California since then to prevent a repeat.

Until Monday, the previous peak-demand record had stood since 1999.

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