Diablo Canyon operated safely in 2014, NRC says

June 25, 2015

Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant operated safely in 2014, federal regulators said Wednesday at a meeting in San Luis Obispo. [Tribune]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held its annual meeting on Diablo Canyon at the Embassy Suites hotel. More than 80 members of the public attended, including people wearing Friends of Diablo Canyon T-shirts, as well as members of San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace who call for the closure of the nuclear plant.

At the meeting, Tom Hipschman, the senior resident inspector at Diablo Canyon, said the NRC conducted 7,300 hours of inspections at the nuclear plant in 2014. Also, an analysis of seismic and flooding hazard at Diablo Canyon, which was released last year, showed the plant could shut down safely if an earthquake were to occur

NRC officials noted one safety breach involving the warning system for a potential radioactive emergency. The problem has been corrected, though.

In 2005, PG&E removed a section of its emergency plan for notifying and evacuating boats that are within 10 miles of the nuclear reactors. PG&E did not restore the missing instructions to its emergency plan until 2013.

The NRC issued a violation but no fine for the safety lapse. PG&E officials say the issue had a low to moderate safety significance because the county had a plan in place to evacuate boats.