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Humboldt Bay

1.0 Site Identification

2.0 Site Status Summary

The plant was shut down in July 1976 and has been in SAFSTOR ever since. A DP was approved in July 1988. Subsequent to the 1996 decommissioning rule, the licensee converted the DP into its Defueling Safety Analysis Report which is now updated every two years. A PSDAR was issued by the licensee in February 1998. The plant is currently in SAFSTOR with incremental decommissioning activities ongoing. Decommissioning work at Humboldt Bay involves recently completed asbestos removal, currently in progress systems and structures radiological characterization, and future work on reactor and internals activation analysis, low-level waste (LLW) management plan development, developing of a work, cost, and scheduling process, and the developing of a facilities and staffing plan. The licensee submitted an ISFSI application in December 2003. The ISFSI dry storage cask will be unique due to the short length of the Humboldt fuel assemblies. Furthermore, the casks will be stored below-grade to accommodate regional seismicity issues, security concerns, and site boundary dose limits. The license for the ISFSI was issued on November 18, 2005. The licensee began constructing the ISFSI in 2007 and expects fuel loading in 2008. Following ISFSI construction, the licensee will be constructing two new fossil units in 2008 and 2009 to replace Humboldt Bay units 1 and 2. Following construction of the new units the old fossil units 1 and 2 will be decommissioned in 2009 and 2010. During this period only incremental decommissioning of Unit 3 will take place. As the decommissioning of the fossil units is completed, full decommissioning of Unit 3 will begin. The LTP will probably be submitted in 2010 or 2011, with license termination in 2012 or 2013.

Humboldt Bay, Unit 3 is a 65 MWe boiling water reactor plant located 4 miles southwest of Eureka, CA. The plant operated commercially from 1963 to 1976 when it shut down for seismic modifications. In 1983, with the plant still shut down, PG&E determined that required seismic modifications and the requirements imposed as a result of the TMI-2 accident made continued operations no longer economically feasible, and therefore decided to decommission the plant. All fuel was placed in the spent fuel pool. A possess-but-not-operate license amendment was issued in 1985. The plant is currently in a SAFSTOR status. Humboldt Bay, Units 1 and 2 are fossil plants located immediately adjacent to Unit 3 and are still in commercial operation. During the fall of 2003, the licensee began a detailed examination of the contents of its spent fuel pool in preparation for eventual removal of the fuel assemblies stored in the pool to a dry-cask-storage Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation. In the process of performing the spent fuel pool examination, the licensee discovered fuel rod fragments that could not be accounted for by records maintained at the facility. While in the process of performing a record review related to the fragment investigation, the licensee identified a discrepancy that called into question the location of three segments of a portion of a single spent fuel rod removed from an assembly (designated A-49) in 1968. Records from 1968 indicate that a single fuel rod from assembly A-49 was cut into three 18-inch segments that were placed in a small container with an intention to ship them to an off-site lab for analysis. The records indicate that the off-site shipment never occurred and that the three 18-inch segments in their special storage container were placed somewhere in the spent fuel pool without identifying the specific location. The licensee has been unable to locate these three 18-inch rod segments in the spent fuel pool and has not found any records documenting their shipment off site. On June 20-24, 2005, a team of inspectors from NRC Headquarters and Region IV conducted the final onsite portion of the special inspection to review the licensee?s efforts and details of the Project Final Report. The inspectors concluded that the SNM Control and Accountability Project was generally complete and thorough in its search for the missing fuel segments. The licensee concluded that the most likely location of the missing fuel segments was in the SFP, in an altered configuration while the NRC concluded that the most likely location of the missing fuel segments was at LLRW disposal site.

3.0 Major Technical or Regulatory Issues

The licensee is currently in the process of planning for the construction of two new fossil generating units on the site. They plan on conducting radiological surveys of the area of the new plants prior to LTP submittal.

4.0 Estimated Date For Closure

12/31/2013

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Monday, April 14, 2008