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The club toured the Diablo Canyon Power Plant on Tuesday. The tour started with a boat tour to see the plant from the Ocean. The plant sucks in 12 million gallons of sea water a minute. The sea water is one of three water systems the plant uses. The sea water cools the turbine generation cooling system. The sea water goes through a desalination process and is then purified. When the water is returned to the ocean it is 20 degrees warmer creating a warmer bay that has changed the eco-system for about an acre. Our boat pilot, Steve, told us he has seen white sharks in the warm area, especially the young sharks that cannot regulate their body temperature as well as mature sharks.
We were supposed to go to the observation deck of the power plant, but due to high winds in Southern California, entrance to the power plant was restricted in case of a sudden high demand for power.
We had lunch in the education and training center on site. Our guide, Dylan and his associate, Andrea, educated us about how the power plant works. He talked about the politics, the future and regulation of nuclear power. He spent time discussing the storage of spent fuel and showed us a video. The spent fuel is stored in 360,000 pound cement lead casts. He said the casts are built like nested Russian dolls. The vehicle that transports the casts from the plant to the on site storage area moves at one mile per hour and burns 50 gallons of fuel a mile. Dylan told us he wants to come speak at one of our club meetings because he wasn’t able to cover everything at lunch.
After lunch, Dylan took us up to where the casts of spent fuel are stored. There are currently 70 casts on site, 12 of which were added in 2024. The 70 casts of spent fuel represent 20 years of operation. There is currently room for 70 more casts on site. There are two pools of water near the storage site. Dylan explained all the back up cooling systems to keep the reactors cool. He explained all nuclear power plants are situated near water, lakes, rivers, etc.
To conclude the tour, Dylan then took us out to Windy Point on the Point Buchon Trail. The Point Buchon Trail is on the PG & E property. The trial goes along the edge of the coast and is accessible from Montano De Oro State Park.
A Big Thank You to Diane Schiesl for arranging the tour!
