Humboldt Nuclear Power Plant
Posted by: Squirreleen
N 40° 44.455 W 124° 12.563
10T E 397890 N 4510700
Site of the decommissioned Humboldt Nuclear Power Plant near Eureka, CA.
Waymark Code: WM3QX2
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 05/07/2008
Views: 74
The Humboldt Bay nuclear power plant was a 65 megawatt boiling water reactor plant located 4 miles south of Eureka, CA on the edge of Humboldt Bay just west of Highway 101. The plant operated from 1963 to 1976 when it shut down for seismic modifications. In 1983, the owner, PG&E, determined the seismic modifications were not economically feasible. The 250-foot stack that was the marker for the plant was taken down in 1998. (See
the Encapsulation Technologies website for details on how this was done.) Decommissioning work is still ongoing (as of 2008).
Disturbing side note: in 2003, in the process of inventorying the spent fuel pool, it was discovered that a portion of a spent fuel rod could not be accounted for. The remainder of the fuel rods are still onsite awaiting a long-term storage location.
Still onsite are two fossil-fuel generators, the stacks of which are visible in the photo.
See
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission website for detailed information about the decommissioning of this site.