PG&E shuts Calif. Diablo Canyon 2 reactor for refuel

NEW YORK Oct 5 (Reuters) - PG&E Corp (PCG.N) shut the 1,118-megawatt Unit 2 at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California by Oct. 4 for planned refueling and maintenance, the company said in a release.

During the outage, the will replace the unit's reactor vessel head.

The company did not say when the unit would return to service. Electricity traders guessed it would likely return in about five weeks.

The 2,240 MW Diablo Canyon station is located in Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County about 195 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The station has two units, 1,122 MW Unit 1 and the 1,118 MW Unit 2, which entered service in 1985 and 1986.

Unit 1 continued to operate at full power.

One MW powers about 700 homes in California.

PG&E, of San Francisco, owns and operates more than 6,200 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to almost 5.3 million customers and natural gas to 4.2 million customers in California. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino)