Diablo Canyon is undergoing relicensing that could keep it operating for 20 additional years. The plant provides California's only continuous carbon-free electricity, increasingly vital as tech companies demand power and the grid faces strain. PG&E leadership aims for the full 20-year renewed license and focuses on that goal. The control room retains analog controls and includes an identical simulator where operators practice earthquake, fire, and terrorist scenarios; operators spend every fifth week (about 20% of careers) on such simulations. The plant can shut both reactors in two seconds after a large earthquake. Wildfire smoke recently reduced Unit 2 output and prompted de-energizing of two transmission lines as a precaution.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant is in the midst of a relicensing process that, if successful, will keep it running for another 20 years. California's last source of round-the-clock, carbon-free nuclear power is undergoing a rigorous review to gauge whether it can operate in a safe and cost-effective manner without taking a major toll on the local environment. While the review is ongoing, keeping the plant running has become vital with tech companies desperately searching for power and the grid feeling the increasing strain.
My near-term hope is that Diablo will run its full 20-year renewed license, says Maureen Zawalick, PG&E Corp.'s vice president of business and technical services. So we are laser-focused on that mission. Diablo Canyon began operations in 1985, and in some ways, it's still stuck in time. In the control room, buttons and dials reign supreme over digital screens. Operators don't like change, says simulation engineer Brian Sawyer.
The plant also has an exact replica of the control room where reactor operators learn how to handle everything from earthquakes to terrorist attacks. Sawyer presses a button to simulate an earthquake, sending a rumble through the training room via a 30-inch subwoofer under the stairs as lights begin flashing. This type of training is so crucial to keeping the plant functioning that Diablo Canyon's nuclear operators spend every fifth week about 20% of their careers running through these simulations.
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