Is the Moss Landing power plant nuclear? What we know as fire at world’s biggest battery storage facility prompts evacuation orders

After a fire ignited at one of the Moss Landing power plants in Northern California, hundreds of people were forced to evacuate. As a result, part of Highway 1 was also shut down on Friday.

The fire reportedly began on Thursday afternoon at around 3:00 pm, forcing 1,500 people to evacuate the vicinity. The Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in California is the world's largest lithium battery energy storage system (BESS). While it mainly focuses on natural gas-powered electricity generation, it does not host any nuclear assets.

Here's all we know about the fire that broke out at the Moss Landing power plant

CBS News has reported that the sheriff's office ordered the evacuation of the following areas:

"Moss Landing south of the Elkhorn Slough, north of Molera Rd. and Monterey Dunes Way, and west of Castroville Blvd. and Elk Horn Rd. to the ocean for the following zones: MRY-B037, MRY-B047, MRY-B050, MRY-B051,MRY-B053, MRY-B058, MRY-B060."

At the time of writing, the Castroville Rec Center has been named as the Temporary Evacuation Point. By Thursday night, a few people had made it to the center, while the rest had gone home to family or friends, KRQE reports. The blaze was still going strong on Friday, though some of it had been contained. However, it had not spread past the facility.

Given that the Moss Landing Power Plant hosts a wide fleet of lithium batteries, it can be extremely difficult to extinguish the flames should it catch on fire. Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church told KSBW-TV:

“There’s no way to sugar coat it. This is a disaster, is what it is."

He added that it was unlikely that the fire would go past the building it was in.

Reportedly, the county Board of Supervisors called for an emergency meeting on Friday morning to discuss the situation at hand. The company spokesperson also revealed that all of the staffers and personnel safely made it out, adding that,

"The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but an investigation will begin once the fire is extinguished."

Jenny Lyon, a spokesperson for Vistra, the company that owns the plant, said in a statement,

"Our top priority is the safety of the community and our personnel, and Vistra deeply appreciates the continued assistance of our local emergency responders.”

CBS News has reported that while first firefighters and hazmat crews were at the Moss Landing power plant, they appeared to be letting the fire extinguish on its own. No injuries have been reported thus far.

Edited by Anshika Jain

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Is the Moss Landing power plant nuclear? What we know as fire at world’s biggest battery storage facility prompts evacuation orders

Here's all we know about the fire that broke out at the Moss Landing power plant

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