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Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Shuts Down For Refueling

SAN LUIS OBISPO (AP) — The Unit 2 reactor at California's Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant has been shut down for scheduled refueling and maintenance.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. spokesman Kory Raftery says in a news release that the reactor was safely shut down at 12 a.m. Monday. Refueling and maintenance will take several weeks.

The twin-reactor central coast nuclear plant produces 2,300 megawatts of electricity, about 10 percent of all electricity generated in California and enough to meet the needs of more than three million homes.

During the outage, the utility says Diablo Canyon employees and more than 1,000 temporary workers will replace a third of the reactor fuel, do maintenance and test plant systems and components that can't be accessed during normal plant operation.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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