PG&E Names New Diablo Canyon Site Vice President

AVILA BEACH, Calif., Sept. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced the appointment of Barry Allen as its new Site Vice President of Diablo Canyon Power Plant.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120928/SF83022)  

In the position, Allen will oversee the daily operations of the facility and provide leadership over the plant's maintenance and security functions, as well as lead the periodic refueling of both reactor units. He will report to Ed Halpin, PG&E's Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer.

"Barry Allen's strong leadership and vast experience in running nuclear power generating facilities will be invaluable as we continue to build upon Diablo Canyon's strong record of safety and efficient operations," said Halpin. "We are excited to have Barry join the Diablo Canyon team and I look forward to working with him in his new role."

Allen brings to Diablo Canyon more than 30 years of nuclear power industry experience, obtained while working in increasing levels of responsibility at Entergy and FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC).  He joined FENOC in 2003 as Plant Manager at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Ohio. Allen was later named Site Operations Director at Perry Nuclear Generating Station in North Perry, Ohio, in 2006 and became Site Vice President in 2007. In 2008, he assumed his current position as Site Vice President at Davis-Besse.

Prior to joining FENOC, Allen served in a number of engineering and maintenance assignments, including Director of Engineering, at Entergy's Waterford 3 Steam Electric Station in Louisiana. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture Structures degree and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering degree from Texas Tech University.

"Barry is a well-respected veteran of the nuclear industry," said John Conway, who as Senior Vice President of Energy Supply oversees all of PG&E's energy procurement and nuclear, renewables, hydroelectric and fossil generation functions. "He brings a wealth of operational experience to this position and is well suited for ensuring that Diablo Canyon remains a safe and vital part of California's clean energy resource portfolio for years to come."

"I am proud to join PG&E and a Diablo Canyon team that maintains high standards of excellence while consistently delivering safe, clean, and reliable electricity to its customers," said Allen. "I look forward to working with the team to continue the facility's strong operating and performance record in the industry."

Allen joins a dedicated team of 1,400 employees at Diablo Canyon who earned a string of recent key accomplishments and milestones, including:

• A successful planned maintenance and refueling outage on Unit 1 involving about 600,000 hours of inspections, maintenance and project work.
• The installation of a new digital process control system (PCS) that increases redundancies for safety, reduces maintenance and further enhances PG&E's continued safe operation of the facility. Diablo Canyon is the first nuclear power generating facility in the country to execute a PCS replacement of this extent using in-house resources.
• Surpassing 10 million hours without an employee injury resulting in days away from work. A significant milestone that reflects PG&E's strong commitment to safety.

Allen fills the role of former Site Vice President Jim Becker, who in July became the first President of the STARS Alliance, which focuses on initiatives and information sharing that benefits all seven nuclear power generating station members, including Diablo Canyon.  

Diablo Canyon Power Plant is a nuclear power facility owned and operated by PG&E. Its two units together produce approximately 2,300 net megawatts of greenhouse-gas-free electricity, about 10 percent of all electricity generated in California, and enough energy to meet the needs of more than three million Northern and Central Californians.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to 15 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/ and www.pgecurrents.com.

SOURCE PG&E Corporation