SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif- The ground is rumbling near Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, but its not an earthquake! It's the on-shore advanced seismic testing, a part of the advanced seismic program.
"The trucks put down a vibration plate that imparts an energy into the ground that helps us image the faults in the ground," said Sean Sundermann, a geologist. The trucks have been rolling through the county, looking for faults in the areas surrounding Diablo Canyon.
Geophones, which look like regular cables, are set up all over the area being studied. "Geophones act as a vibration sensor that listen to the energy in the ground," said Sundermann. They record data in real time which is sent back to a trailer. It then gives geologists a 3D map of the onshore faults near the facility during this collection phase.
"It is raw data that we are going to have to process after we record the data, and we will be able to see changes in the geology from that," said Sundermann. PG&E has been performing the on-shore studies for about 2 years, they will finish up at the end of the October.
