Fire Reported at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant

Sunday, August 17, 2009

Tribune staff report

A fire broke out at Diablo Canyon Power Plant early Sunday morning.

The fire was in the plant’s Unit 2 main bank C phase transformer.

According to Sharon Gavin, communications manager for the power plant, the fire was reported at 12:12 a.m. and extinguished about 14 minutes later.

An “unusual event” was declared because the fire was outside the plant’s normal activity. The event was called off at 2:31 a.m.

There was no threat to the plant’s nuclear reactors, Gavin said.

The fire appears to have been caused by a transformer failure in an area east of the plant's turbine building, according to a mid-afternoon release of additional information.

Unit 2 was shut down as a result of the fire, and remained shut down Sunday afternoon.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/breakingnews/story/442251.html