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Diablo Canyon Power Plant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Diablo Canyon Power Plant is an electricity-generating nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County, California. The plant has two Westinghouse-designed 4-Loop pressurized-water nuclear reactors operated by Pacific Gas & Electric. The facility is located on about 750 acres (3.7 km²) in Avila Beach, California. Together, the twin 1,100 megawatt reactors produce about 18,000 GWh of electricity annually, supplying the electrical needs of more than 2.2 million people, sent along the Path 15 500 kV lines that connect to this plant.
Diablo Canyon is designed to withstand an earthquake of 7.5 on the Richter scale[1] from four faults, including the nearby San Andreas and Hosgri faults. Equipped with advanced seismic monitoring and safety systems, the plant is designed to shutdown safely in the event of significant ground motion.
The plant draws its secondary cooling water from the Pacific Ocean, and during heavy storms both units are throttled back by 80% to prevent kelp from entering the cooling water intake.
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Unit One is a 1,122MWe pressurized water reactor supplied by Westinghouse. It went online on 2 November 1984 and is licensed to operate through 22 September 2021. In 2006, Unit One generated 9,944,983 MWhr of electricity, at a capacity factor of 101.2%.
Unit Two is a 1,118 MWe pressurized water reactor supplied by Westinghouse. It went online on 26 August 1985 and is licensed to operate through 26 April 2025. In 2006, Unit Two generated 8,520,000 MWhr of electricity, at a capacity factor of 88.2%.
Diablo Canyon was built and pressed into service despite legal challenges and civil disobedience from the anti-nuclear protesters of the Abalone alliance.[2] Pacific Gas & Electric Company went through six years of hearings, referendums and litigation to have the Diablo Canyon plant approved. The chief concern about the plant was whether it was sufficiently earthquake-proof. The site was deemed safe when construction started in 1968. But by the time of the plant's completion in 1973, a seismic fault had been discovered two miles out to sea, a fault capable of generating a quake comparable to the one that destroyed San Francisco in 1906. The company responded by strengthening the building.[3]
- ^ Diablo Canyon Power Plant - Preliminary Result of NRC Event Followup for the December 22, 2003, San Simeon Earthquake
- ^ Conservation Fallout: Nuclear Protest at Diablo Canyon
- ^ In the world of nuclear power crisis
- Diablo Canyon Power Plant is at coordinates Coordinates: