NRC Terminates Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant License
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has terminated the license for the Humboldt Bay Power Plant, Unit 3, in California and released the site for unrestricted use. The termination comes after Pacific Gas & Electric Co. successfully decommissioned the facility to meet the NRC’s radiation protection standards.
Humboldt Bay Unit 3 was a boiling water reactor operated by PG&E from 1963 to 1976. Units 1 and 2 at the site, located approximately 4 miles from Eureka, California, in Humboldt County, were fossil fuel power plants that were previously decommissioned. PG&E currently operates a separate fossil fuel plant adjacent to the site.
Unit 3’s independent spent fuel storage installation will remain under a separate NRC license. PG&E remains responsible for the security and protection of the storage facility and is required to maintain $53.3 million in liability insurance coverage until the fuel has been removed from the storage facility site. PG&E also is responsible for safely decommissioning the storage facility site once the fuel is gone.
PG&E submitted final status surveys of the Unit 3 site and requested license termination in October. The NRC staff evaluated the surveys, conducted inspections, and reviewed confirmatory analyses before concluding the site meets NRC criteria for license termination for unrestricted use.
The NRC’s safety evaluation report of PG&E’s request to release the site will be available through the NRC website.
