KCOY Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo - News-Diablo Canyon Power Plant Upgrade

Diablo Canyon Power Plant Upgrade

7/19/10

AVILA BEACH -- Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant has received a special delivery.

It was a massive, yet delicate, cross-country move.

On Monday, a new reactor head arrived at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant aboard a giant vehicle.

The pricey piece of cargo -- weighing 70 tons -- was carefully escorted from Indiana to Avila Beach.

"I look at this thing and I couldn't believe it," said Edmund Viau, an Avila Beach camper. "It's huge!"

The power plant has received a replacement for the reactor head on Unit 1.

"Reactor heads -- industry wide in the nuclear industry in the United States -- have had some susceptibility, what's called stress corrosion cracking," said Jude Fledderman, Director of Strategic Projects. "We have seen no aspects of that here at Diablo Canyon, but proactively we're going to replace ours."

PG&E officials say it's safe for transit and viewing because it has not been exposed to radiation.

"This is no different from any other piece of equipment or any other heavy hauling that you would see on a highway," said Fledderman.

The reactor head is 17 feet in diameter and 8 feet tall.

It took a very specialized vehicle to move it across the country -- about the size of three semi trucks.

"My husband had to go into Santa Maria and they told me that they diverted his traffic at that time," said Beverly Oliveira, an Avila Beach camper.

Crews will install it in October during a scheduled maintenance and refueling outage.

"It takes advantage of modern technology and it is not only more effective and efficient from a product standpoint and material, it is also easier to work on and causes less maintenance required for the future," said Fledderman.

Unit 2's cap was switched out last year.

The estimated price tag for both replacements is $141 million.

PG&E officials say the old reactor heads will be stored on site in a secure building, until the decommissioning of the plant.

It is the same place the old steam generators are being stored.