SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — An accidental discharge of carbon dioxide from a fire-suppression system has triggered an alert at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on California's central coast.
Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman Kory Raftery says the alert began at 10:56 a.m. Wednesday and remains in effect but everyone at the plant is fine and there's no threat to public safety.
The discharge occurred during a system test in a room that houses a tank of oil to lubricate the turbine generator for one of the plant's two nuclear units.
Raftery says the alert will be called off when carbon dioxide levels drop.
Diablo Canyon is on the San Luis Obispo County coast midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
An alert is the plant's second-lowest of four levels of emergency classification.
