About the Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that an Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) be established around each commercial nuclear power plant to allow for emergency planning and response. This zone was designed to be roughly a ten-mile radius. FEMA has oversight responsibilities for nuclear power plant emergency planning within this area. To allow for further planning, the State of California expanded the Diablo Canyon EPZ, so it is much larger than the EPZ defined by the federal government.  The Emergency Planning Zone is divided into 12 Protective Action Zones described below.  

Emergency Planning Zone Map PDF

Find Your Protective Action Zone

San Luis Obispo County has 12 Protective Action Zones (PAZ) that surround Diablo Canyon.  These are numbered 1-12.  These PAZ will be used to communicate protective actions such as Evacuation, Shelter in Place, or the ingestion of Potassium Iodide (KI) during an emergency at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant.  Any protective actions would be communicated using various alert and notification systems including the Sirens, Emergency Alert System, Wireless Emergency Alerts, social media, and door to door alerting as appropriate. It is unlikely an emergency at Diablo Canyon would affect the entire EPZ.

You should know the PAZ for your home, work, and children's schools in advance of an emergency. To find your PAZ, use the map below.   

 

Find your Protective Action Zone Interactive Map

For more information and planning, download a copy of the Emergency Planning Calendar. 

Public Education Zones

Surrounding the EPZ, are three additional zones known as Public Education Zones (PEZ). Residents in these areas are not likely to be affected by an emergency at DCPP. However, since residents in the PEZ (zones 13 through 15) are near the EPZ, general information about DCPP is also provided to them.