November 16, 2005 3:38 PM By Wayne Barber

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. expects the California Public Utilities Commission to take a final vote on Nov. 18 on the utility's request to recoup the $706 million cost of replacing steam generators at the two-unit, 2,200-MW Diablo Canyon nuclear plant.

The existing steam generators are the originals that have been in use since the plant came online in the 1980s. Based on the current rate of plugging, the old ones would wear out and force closure of the plant around 2013 or 2014, more than a decade before the plant's current license expires in 2025, PG&E spokesman Jeff Lewis said.

Earlier this year, the California PUC endorsed the economics of the steam generator replacement, Lewis said. PG&E has said that replacing the steam generators, would save ratepayers $1.2 billion in the long run compared to the cost of buying power from other sources. More recently, the PUC reviewed the environmental impact report for the project.

Ratepayers would see their bills increased an additional 2% between 2010 and 2025 to pay for the new steam generators.

Earlier this year, SGT, a joint venture between Framatome ANP Inc. and Washington Group International, announced that it was awarded a contract to install the new steam generators at Diablo Canyon.

PG&E plans to install the new steam generators during regularly scheduled refueling outages at the nuclear power station, in San Luis Obispo County, Calif., during 2008 and 2009.

Meanwhile another major capital improvement project is already under way at Diablo Canyon.

In a move that should increase plant generation by 30 MW, PG&E is replacing the three low-pressure turbines for both units at a cost of $110 million, Lewis said. The turbine replacement at Diablo Canyon 1 is under way, as that facility is now in its regular refueling outage. The turbine replacement at unit 2 will take place in the spring of 2006.

Alstom Power Inc. is a major contractor involved with the turbine project, Lewis said.

Also, the California PUC has approved a $19 million study to determine whether PG&E should apply to the NRC for a 20-year license extension beyond 2025, Lewis said. It is expected to be a three-year study and will probably involve both PG&E officials and outside consultants, Lewis said.

The replacement project has been opposed by nuclear critics such as the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace.

Lawyers for the Mothers for Peace, the Sierra Club and other plaintiffs, argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on Oct. 16 that the NRC did not give full weight to the possibility of terrorist attacks before it approved a dry cask storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at Diablo Canyon.

Spent nuclear fuel should not be stored upon an "exposed hillside" overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the groups said. No ruling in the case had been posted on the court's Web site as of Nov. 16.

PG&E, like other nuclear operators, considers dry cask storage a proven, safe method of housing spent nuclear fuel rods. The dry cask storage facility development is under way and construction should be complete by the end of 2007, Lewis said.

The utility is a subsidiary of PG&E Corp.

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