SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif- One of the only two nuclear power plants in California is temporarily shut down. That means the only operating plant is Diablo Canyon in San Luis Obispo County. The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station shutdown due to problems with its steam generators.
"PG&E is not anticipating any impact on its customers as a result, we are actually on a separate transmission system than the SONGS facility," says Blair Jones, a Spokesperson for PG&E. You may not see any impact on service, but PG&E has it's own set of concerns because its under pressure to finish a study begun last year at Diablo.
"In the aftermath of Fukushima, we certainly understood that some of our customers had concerns about the seismicity of the area," says Jones. As a result PG&E announced its plan to accelerate its plan for advanced seismic studies to augment its ongoing seismic research.
Currently PG&E is waiting for approval for permits to begin the third phase in the series of studies.
"It's using high energy pulses of air that ping down into the earths surface and into the crust. The data that will come back will help paint a picture of the geology off the coast," says Jones.
This third phase is the most controversial. Wild life experts and commercial fishers are worried it could damage sea life and hurt business. The third phase will start this fall and last thirty days once it receives a permit.
PG&E says that they asked the NRC to delay re-licensing Diablo Canyon until these studies were complete. Diablo Canyon is currently licensed until 2024/25. If re-licensed it will be in place for 20 more years.
