Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant: 50 Years

 

Wondering about people’s memories  of our local Nuclear plant–Did anyone work here? March in protests?

Below is a clipping from 50 years ago yesterday when the plant was only a twinkle in someone’s eye.

PG&EHead

Reveals Huge

Project Cost

The atomic

power .-plant which Pacific

Gas & Electric Company plans

To :build near Eureka will cost

28 million dollars to build and

operate for four years, according

to PG&E President Norman

R.Sutherland..

 

He said the 60,000 kilowatt

plant,; whicb.will produce eco

rnornical nuclear electricity, will

be built by BechteI,Corp.

for 20 million dollars. This

compares with 11 million dollars

for a conventional steam

plant.

 

Uranium to run the plant for

3 1/2 to 4 ½ years will be rented

from the government for five

million dollars, Sutherland told

a press .conference Thursday,

it will cost another three million

dollars to fabricate the

uranium into pellets for the

core of the boiling-water

type reactor furnace.-

 

Cheaper Than Oil

He said the eight million dollar

cost for fuel is about-half

that of oil used in steam plants,

therefore, costs of building and

operating the nuclear plant

would begin to balance out with

the costs of conventional plants

with the second core or batch

of uranium fuel.

 

Sutherland said Eureka was

picked for the site of the new

plant because it has moderately

high fuel costs.

 

 “Oil; for steam ‘plants must

be.barged in and it is remote

from our general transmission

system,” he said. “Two 100,000

volt lines’ are brought ‘in 110

miles over the Trinity Mountains

f r o m Lockwood, and

standby facilities must be maintained.”

 

Negotiating for Land

Sutherland said PG&E is negotiating.

to buy land on the

coast near San Francisco for

future construction of a nu

clear plant. He said studies are

continuing, although so far surveys

have indicated that.such a plant would

be competitive with steam and hydro

electric plants.

 

Asked if he believed the’ Eu

reka plant indicated the com

ing obsolescence of steam am

hydroelectric plants, Sutherland

replied: “Emphatically no.”

 

“It may do so. In the Eureka

area,” he:said, “but not in our

general system. In fact, we now

have five hydroelectric and

three steam-plants under construction.”

Eureka Humboldt Standard

2 21 1958 p9

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Ben
Guest
Ben
16 years ago

Did they ever account for the missing fuel rods in the pool? The story seemed to fade away.

Ben
Guest
Ben
16 years ago

Did they ever account for the missing fuel rods in the pool? The story seemed to fade away.

highboldtage
Guest
16 years ago

They just walked away and left the fuel rods there. That’s my understanding though I could be wrong. They call it “storage in place” or something like that. PG&E should be held responsible for nuclear waste just like Union Pacific should be forced to clean up the Balloon Track.

Have a peaceful day,
Bill

highboldtage
Guest
16 years ago

They just walked away and left the fuel rods there. That’s my understanding though I could be wrong. They call it “storage in place” or something like that. PG&E should be held responsible for nuclear waste just like Union Pacific should be forced to clean up the Balloon Track.

Have a peaceful day,
Bill

Chris
Guest
16 years ago

Missing fuel rods…hmmmm…this still doesn’t seem like the best form of alternative energy, despite what the nuclear industry says in their commercials.

Chris
Guest
16 years ago

Missing fuel rods…hmmmm…this still doesn’t seem like the best form of alternative energy, despite what the nuclear industry says in their commercials.

Ernie
Guest
16 years ago

I remember the plant being built. We had a family friend that worked on the containment vessel.

I also remember that back in the fifties that they told us that we had such a bright future ahead. By the beginning of the seventies that energy would be unlimited and free. The only cost would be for the distribution facilities. Nuclear energy was thought of as the solution to the grinding poverty in the world, and we could all spend our leisure time for the betterment of our fellow man. The worlds problems were over.

I guess they didn’t know about politics back then.

Ernie
Guest
16 years ago

I remember the plant being built. We had a family friend that worked on the containment vessel.

I also remember that back in the fifties that they told us that we had such a bright future ahead. By the beginning of the seventies that energy would be unlimited and free. The only cost would be for the distribution facilities. Nuclear energy was thought of as the solution to the grinding poverty in the world, and we could all spend our leisure time for the betterment of our fellow man. The worlds problems were over.

I guess they didn’t know about politics back then.

Chris
Guest
16 years ago

Ernie: You’re right, they didn’t know about the politics back then, but they also didn’t know about the huge waste disposal problems we would have. Just where are we supposed to put this deadly, toxic stuff that doesn’t go away for 10,000 years (or is it 100,000?…I can’t recall)? Yuca Mountain in Nevada? Sounded like a good idea at first, but the people in Nevada don’t think so and I can hardly blame them.

rob
Guest
rob
13 years ago
Reply to  Chris

its called vitrification… 100% safe. The french have been using this method of containment for decades now. 100% leak proof. But here in the US where corporate interests outweigh public safety – we’re not even considering it…

Sunny J. Wiseheart
Guest
Sunny J. Wiseheart
12 years ago
Reply to  Chris

I’m in College, writing an Essay Paper for my Earth Science Class…would love to know about the ‘missing’ rods, if you would fill me in, that’d be great!
~Thanks
Sunny J. Wiseheart

Mom
Guest
Mom
16 years ago

Are you aware that in 1959-1960 your dad worked at the PGE Plant which was connected to the Nuclear plant. He said the Nuclear Plant wasn’t opened yet but he was hired to replace someone who was moving over to the new plant.

Mom
Guest
Mom
16 years ago

Are you aware that in 1959-1960 your dad worked at the PGE Plant which was connected to the Nuclear plant. He said the Nuclear Plant wasn’t opened yet but he was hired to replace someone who was moving over to the new plant.

Ernie
Guest
16 years ago

I’m not smart enough to argue, pro or con, on Nuclear energy, but I now that there are proponents and opponents that can argue and make strong points for both sides. The Radioactive-byproducts decay on a “half-life”, where they slowly turn to lead. (I think)

The destruction to the air we breath, and loss of life in mining accidents in the use of oil and coal is a compelling reason to consider nukes. There is not sufficient funding to study what to do with nuclear byproducts and to develop a plan to deal with them. The Yucca Mountain site was to be an interim storage facility to store Nuke material until it could be dealt with on a permanent basis.

If they are able to develop nuclear fusion, this “radioactive byproduct” would become fuel to power that process. We might wish we had a nuke stockpile laying around someday.

Again, I know that I don’t know anything about Nuclear power, but I know that if everyone thinks real hard about why we aren’t using it, you will find someone with money fighting that concept. Someone, or some group of people don’t want us to consider nuke power. Could it be that they are selling another product?

Possibly the “environmentalists” are sowing the seeds of their own destruction by fighting nuclear power.

Russ
Guest
Russ
13 years ago
Reply to  Ernie

Most of the comments have considerable merit. I have worked with Nuclear Power for 29 years, and have helped with 6 different projects at Humboldt Bay. It is true that the long term storage of the spent fuel bundles, is a problem, both with the engineering, and the public concerns. The government proposed location at Yucca mountain, was intended to be a final solution for the long term storage issues, but true to most government solutions to any problem, issues developed, and the project died in red tape, after spending enough money to build a tunnel under the Atlantic Ocean, to Europe. Great idea, poor execution.

Shipping the spent fuel from Humboldt, presents multiple problems of safety, and no viable soulution could be agreed upon. Long term storage on site became the only solution, within economic reason. Easier to build a 4 lane road to Hawaii, and cheaper.

The site is being returned to “as found” with public safety, and economic feasability as the driving motivators. After living in Humboldt for 30 years, and still having family in the area, I am definitly concerned, and hopefully informed, that all is well in “The County”

russ

Ernie
Guest
16 years ago

I’m not smart enough to argue, pro or con, on Nuclear energy, but I now that there are proponents and opponents that can argue and make strong points for both sides. The Radioactive-byproducts decay on a “half-life”, where they slowly turn to lead. (I think)

The destruction to the air we breath, and loss of life in mining accidents in the use of oil and coal is a compelling reason to consider nukes. There is not sufficient funding to study what to do with nuclear byproducts and to develop a plan to deal with them. The Yucca Mountain site was to be an interim storage facility to store Nuke material until it could be dealt with on a permanent basis.

If they are able to develop nuclear fusion, this “radioactive byproduct” would become fuel to power that process. We might wish we had a nuke stockpile laying around someday.

Again, I know that I don’t know anything about Nuclear power, but I know that if everyone thinks real hard about why we aren’t using it, you will find someone with money fighting that concept. Someone, or some group of people don’t want us to consider nuke power. Could it be that they are selling another product?

Possibly the “environmentalists” are sowing the seeds of their own destruction by fighting nuclear power.

Russ
Guest
Russ
13 years ago
Reply to  Ernie

Most of the comments have considerable merit. I have worked with Nuclear Power for 29 years, and have helped with 6 different projects at Humboldt Bay. It is true that the long term storage of the spent fuel bundles, is a problem, both with the engineering, and the public concerns. The government proposed location at Yucca mountain, was intended to be a final solution for the long term storage issues, but true to most government solutions to any problem, issues developed, and the project died in red tape, after spending enough money to build a tunnel under the Atlantic Ocean, to Europe. Great idea, poor execution.

Shipping the spent fuel from Humboldt, presents multiple problems of safety, and no viable soulution could be agreed upon. Long term storage on site became the only solution, within economic reason. Easier to build a 4 lane road to Hawaii, and cheaper.

The site is being returned to “as found” with public safety, and economic feasability as the driving motivators. After living in Humboldt for 30 years, and still having family in the area, I am definitly concerned, and hopefully informed, that all is well in “The County”

russ

Staff
Member
13 years ago
Reply to  Russ

Russ, Thank you for responding. I love having people with local experience and information add to everyone’s knowledge.

Chris
Guest
16 years ago

I’m no genius on this subject either, but it interests me. No doubt money is behind a lot of options (only perhaps not enough behind the “greener” technologies). Frankly, I trust the “money interests” behind wind or solar power more than I trust the money interests behind nuclear, coal, or oil (Chevron, Bechtel, etc.).

As I recall from a 60 Minutes piece I saw on Yuca (Yucca?) Mtn. years ago, they were planning on burying the waste in tunnels burrowed into salt (?) deposits where they hoped to be able to leave it for the long-term…so long, in fact that they were trying to figure out ways to leave warning signs for future civilizations of the hazards buried below, including pyramids, that would last for thousands of years. One of the concerns about the Yucca site that seems to have “stuck” is that it is not a geologically stable as originally thought — there’s some shifting that has gone on and there is a risk that the nuclear waste might get into the water table that feeds a number of large metro areas in the Southwest. This would be a cataclysmic disaster.

I agree that fusion may be the magic bullet that saves us from drowning in our own nuclear waste, but that remains a technological ideal — something that is speculative but not currently possible.

Finally, how do we get the waste to Nevada from all over the country safely? Trains and trucks crash and spill all the time. It’s inevitable that we’d have some terrible events in transport.

All that said, we may well be faced with choosing the lesser of two evils, accepting the horrible risks that come with nuclear power as a way to reduce carbon emissions. A devil’s bargain to be sure…

Chris
Guest
16 years ago

I’m no genius on this subject either, but it interests me. No doubt money is behind a lot of options (only perhaps not enough behind the “greener” technologies). Frankly, I trust the “money interests” behind wind or solar power more than I trust the money interests behind nuclear, coal, or oil (Chevron, Bechtel, etc.).

As I recall from a 60 Minutes piece I saw on Yuca (Yucca?) Mtn. years ago, they were planning on burying the waste in tunnels burrowed into salt (?) deposits where they hoped to be able to leave it for the long-term…so long, in fact that they were trying to figure out ways to leave warning signs for future civilizations of the hazards buried below, including pyramids, that would last for thousands of years. One of the concerns about the Yucca site that seems to have “stuck” is that it is not a geologically stable as originally thought — there’s some shifting that has gone on and there is a risk that the nuclear waste might get into the water table that feeds a number of large metro areas in the Southwest. This would be a cataclysmic disaster.

I agree that fusion may be the magic bullet that saves us from drowning in our own nuclear waste, but that remains a technological ideal — something that is speculative but not currently possible.

Finally, how do we get the waste to Nevada from all over the country safely? Trains and trucks crash and spill all the time. It’s inevitable that we’d have some terrible events in transport.

All that said, we may well be faced with choosing the lesser of two evils, accepting the horrible risks that come with nuclear power as a way to reduce carbon emissions. A devil’s bargain to be sure…

Barb
Guest
Barb
16 years ago

I just read an interview with a guy named Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. The interview contains all kinds of fascinating tidbits about the abilities of mycelia to break down petroleum products, plastics, dioxins, and other environmentally nasty stuff.

Stametz says “Gomphidius glutinosus, a slimy mushroom that grows in conifer forests all over the world, is also a hyper-accumulator of the radioactive isotope cesium-137. In 1986 a reactor melted down at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine and spewed cesium-137 into the atmosphere. The Ukrainians later discovered that this one type of mushroom contained concentrations of cesium-137 more than ten thousand times greater than the background level of contamination. The surrounding ecosystem had lost much of its radioactivity because the isotope was concentrated in this one fungus, which had become highly radioactive.”

He doesn’t say, in this article anyway, whether there’s any evidence of mycelia being capable of actually “digesting” or otherwise reducing the half-life of the radioactivity, but still, pretty neat, huh? I’m definitely gonna read his book!

Barb
Guest
Barb
16 years ago

I just read an interview with a guy named Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. The interview contains all kinds of fascinating tidbits about the abilities of mycelia to break down petroleum products, plastics, dioxins, and other environmentally nasty stuff.

Stametz says “Gomphidius glutinosus, a slimy mushroom that grows in conifer forests all over the world, is also a hyper-accumulator of the radioactive isotope cesium-137. In 1986 a reactor melted down at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine and spewed cesium-137 into the atmosphere. The Ukrainians later discovered that this one type of mushroom contained concentrations of cesium-137 more than ten thousand times greater than the background level of contamination. The surrounding ecosystem had lost much of its radioactivity because the isotope was concentrated in this one fungus, which had become highly radioactive.”

He doesn’t say, in this article anyway, whether there’s any evidence of mycelia being capable of actually “digesting” or otherwise reducing the half-life of the radioactivity, but still, pretty neat, huh? I’m definitely gonna read his book!

Chris
Guest
16 years ago

Wow…that’s pretty cool. Brings new meaning to the term “magic mushroom”!

Chris
Guest
16 years ago

Wow…that’s pretty cool. Brings new meaning to the term “magic mushroom”!

Ernie
Guest
16 years ago

Modern day alchemy, mushrooms that can turn radiation into lead. Wouldn’t that be amazing! This should be researched.

There is also some evidence that radiation can be altered by bacteria. Another thing that I’ve heard is that radiation has no effect on a cockroach.

Ernie
Guest
16 years ago

Modern day alchemy, mushrooms that can turn radiation into lead. Wouldn’t that be amazing! This should be researched.

There is also some evidence that radiation can be altered by bacteria. Another thing that I’ve heard is that radiation has no effect on a cockroach.

Staff
Member
16 years ago

I did a quick bit of research online and can’t find any evidence of the missing fuel rods being located. The most recent account of the rods are (interestingly enough) found in a Barack Obama press release of 2005
“A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that inadequate oversight and incomplete safety procedures have lead to lost, misplaced or unaccounted-for nuclear fuel rods…
…officials are still investigating the Humboldt Bay plant’s missing spent nuclear material.”
http://obama.senate.gov/press/050608-obama_amendment_would_require_/

(Mom, I knew Dad had worked there and that was why I was asking. I was curious about the social history/myth of the plant.)

Fred Mangels
Guest
16 years ago

I used to work there. Eight and a half years as a security guard with Burns Security. I think I started around 1979ish. I worked there after the plant had been shut down for seismic studies and all the way through much of the decommissioning of the nuclear unit.

I first went there because they paid a bit more than the minimum wage gas station job I had at the time. By the time I left they were paying $10 an hour or more with some benefits- good money at the time, especially for guards.

Believe it or not, myself and one of the other guards actually got to touch a nuclear fuel rod. Strange though it may seem- and I still don’t understand why- the rods don’t get really “hot” until they’ve been in use for a while.

So, we were posted at Gate 13, which was the main gate coming out of the nuclear area, and one of the PG&E guys had the fuel rods on the ground. He’d pick each one up and wipe it off with a clean cloth and then test the cloth with a geiger counter, or whatever it was called, and then place it in a storage container.

The guy told us they were fuel rods and cost something like 3 million dollars a piece and they were being shipped back from whence they came as they weren’t to be used since the unit was closing down.

They guy I was with asked if he could touch one and the PG&E guy said, “sure”. After he touched it, I had to, of course.

The rods were about 6′ long, if memory serves me correct, and about 3/4″ to an inch wide. They had pointed tips on each end where they’d fit into the reactor and little grey pellets about 3/4 of an inch long spaced about 6″ apart inside the tube. The rods were coated with some kind of clear glass or plastic so you could see what was inside them.

For those that don’t know, the nuclear unit was known as Unit 3 and was on the north(east?) side of the plant. If you’re looking at the bay from 101 it’s the white building on the right of the complex. There used to be a barber pole type smoke stack above it that was taken down some years ago.

The other two units the the left of it are Units 1 & 2, Unit 1 being the smokestack on the left. I believe both run on either natural gas or crude oil depending on what’s available. The crude is stored in those big tanks, known as Tank 1 and Tank 2 on the southwest end of the plant.

My brother in law started out as a guard there, too. That’s where I met him. He ended up being hired by PG&E and is now a Senior Operator at the plant.

It was around 1988ish when they finally cut the guard force. I think there was maybe 20 of us left before the cut. They were only going to keep 6 of us, I think. I had just enough seniority I could of stayed on as the relief guy- covering other people’s shifts when they took time off or were sick.

I decided it was time to move on. Most of the other guards I worked with, that stayed on, are still there. There’s actually a bunch of new ones there now, too, as they beefed things up after 9/11.

Fred Mangels
Guest
16 years ago

I used to work there. Eight and a half years as a security guard with Burns Security. I think I started around 1979ish. I worked there after the plant had been shut down for seismic studies and all the way through much of the decommissioning of the nuclear unit.

I first went there because they paid a bit more than the minimum wage gas station job I had at the time. By the time I left they were paying $10 an hour or more with some benefits- good money at the time, especially for guards.

Believe it or not, myself and one of the other guards actually got to touch a nuclear fuel rod. Strange though it may seem- and I still don’t understand why- the rods don’t get really “hot” until they’ve been in use for a while.

So, we were posted at Gate 13, which was the main gate coming out of the nuclear area, and one of the PG&E guys had the fuel rods on the ground. He’d pick each one up and wipe it off with a clean cloth and then test the cloth with a geiger counter, or whatever it was called, and then place it in a storage container.

The guy told us they were fuel rods and cost something like 3 million dollars a piece and they were being shipped back from whence they came as they weren’t to be used since the unit was closing down.

They guy I was with asked if he could touch one and the PG&E guy said, “sure”. After he touched it, I had to, of course.

The rods were about 6′ long, if memory serves me correct, and about 3/4″ to an inch wide. They had pointed tips on each end where they’d fit into the reactor and little grey pellets about 3/4 of an inch long spaced about 6″ apart inside the tube. The rods were coated with some kind of clear glass or plastic so you could see what was inside them.

For those that don’t know, the nuclear unit was known as Unit 3 and was on the north(east?) side of the plant. If you’re looking at the bay from 101 it’s the white building on the right of the complex. There used to be a barber pole type smoke stack above it that was taken down some years ago.

The other two units the the left of it are Units 1 & 2, Unit 1 being the smokestack on the left. I believe both run on either natural gas or crude oil depending on what’s available. The crude is stored in those big tanks, known as Tank 1 and Tank 2 on the southwest end of the plant.

My brother in law started out as a guard there, too. That’s where I met him. He ended up being hired by PG&E and is now a Senior Operator at the plant.

It was around 1988ish when they finally cut the guard force. I think there was maybe 20 of us left before the cut. They were only going to keep 6 of us, I think. I had just enough seniority I could of stayed on as the relief guy- covering other people’s shifts when they took time off or were sick.

I decided it was time to move on. Most of the other guards I worked with, that stayed on, are still there. There’s actually a bunch of new ones there now, too, as they beefed things up after 9/11.

Fred Mangels
Guest
16 years ago

Oh, and I believe the “storage in place” Bill referred to above is officially called SafeStore. The spent rods are in a pool underneath Unit 3. They’ll be moved, eventually, just outside the plant to an underground bunker type place over by Buhne Point, if I have the location right. They’ve had some news stories on that locally.

Fred Mangels
Guest
16 years ago

Oh, and I believe the “storage in place” Bill referred to above is officially called SafeStore. The spent rods are in a pool underneath Unit 3. They’ll be moved, eventually, just outside the plant to an underground bunker type place over by Buhne Point, if I have the location right. They’ve had some news stories on that locally.

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
16 years ago

Fred, I hope you don’t glow in the dark after touching that rod.

Ernie and Barb, perhaps someone could figure out a way to teach the cockroaches to eat those mushrooms after they have absorbed the radiation…maybe somehow solve two ugly problems at once.

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
16 years ago

Fred, I hope you don’t glow in the dark after touching that rod.

Ernie and Barb, perhaps someone could figure out a way to teach the cockroaches to eat those mushrooms after they have absorbed the radiation…maybe somehow solve two ugly problems at once.

Staff
Member
16 years ago

Fred, that is pretty incredible! I read your whole piece fascinated!

BTW, the actual name is Safestor–some acronym I assume. Did you ever hear what (if anything) was found out about the missing rods?

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
16 years ago

Kym, maybe it is just a shortened version of “Safe Storage”???

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
16 years ago

Kym, maybe it is just a shortened version of “Safe Storage”???

Fred Mangels
Guest
16 years ago

To the best of my knowledge, they never found the missing rod(s). Seems to me I read it was actually pieces of a rod, but I may have that wrong.

I kind of wonder if the rod actually existed at all? There might well have been some snafu where an incorrect inventory was made when they started the records. I don’t know.

Yes, you’re probably right. It might well be Safestor, a shortened version of Safe Storage.

Fred Mangels
Guest
16 years ago

To the best of my knowledge, they never found the missing rod(s). Seems to me I read it was actually pieces of a rod, but I may have that wrong.

I kind of wonder if the rod actually existed at all? There might well have been some snafu where an incorrect inventory was made when they started the records. I don’t know.

Yes, you’re probably right. It might well be Safestor, a shortened version of Safe Storage.

Ben
Guest
Ben
16 years ago

The rods have to be near a bunch of other rods for the reaction to begin and the rods then heat up. My wife’s dad was a safety engineer at Oak Ridge. When they were making the refined uranium for the first bombs, they did not tell anyone what they were working on. When the physicist Richard Feynman visited from Los Alamos, he was horrified to find that they were storing far too much U235 in the same place and that they did not understand that putting it in the next room or the room above or below might start a chain reaction. Fortunately, they were not quite to that point.
Thanks Fred for a great story. You do mention that the fuel was trucked in and out of the county, presumably a few rods at a time.

Ben
Guest
Ben
16 years ago

The rods have to be near a bunch of other rods for the reaction to begin and the rods then heat up. My wife’s dad was a safety engineer at Oak Ridge. When they were making the refined uranium for the first bombs, they did not tell anyone what they were working on. When the physicist Richard Feynman visited from Los Alamos, he was horrified to find that they were storing far too much U235 in the same place and that they did not understand that putting it in the next room or the room above or below might start a chain reaction. Fortunately, they were not quite to that point.
Thanks Fred for a great story. You do mention that the fuel was trucked in and out of the county, presumably a few rods at a time.

Ernie
Guest
16 years ago

“he was horrified to find that they were storing far too much U235 in the same place”

There is a reason why they call a nuclear reaction “Critical Mass.”

No kidding, Richard Faynman?

Ernie
Guest
16 years ago

“he was horrified to find that they were storing far too much U235 in the same place”

There is a reason why they call a nuclear reaction “Critical Mass.”

No kidding, Richard Faynman?

Staff
Member
16 years ago

Well for such a short post on my part, thanks to you guys, I found out a great deal about our local plant. Pretty interesting stuff.

highboldtage
Guest
16 years ago

If the growth at any cost crowd gets their way and builds a container port and freight railway corridor to the east, some of the nuclear waste will come right through here, on its way to Reno and then to Yucca Mountain. One reason why they want to build a port and rail line here is the isolation of the area itself – a lot less expensive and fewer fatalities when the inevitable catastrophe happens.

Have a peaceful day,
Bill
[email protected]

Chris said

Finally, how do we get the waste to Nevada from all over the country safely? Trains and trucks crash and spill all the time. It’s inevitable that we’d have some terrible events in transport.

highboldtage
Guest
16 years ago

If the growth at any cost crowd gets their way and builds a container port and freight railway corridor to the east, some of the nuclear waste will come right through here, on its way to Reno and then to Yucca Mountain. One reason why they want to build a port and rail line here is the isolation of the area itself – a lot less expensive and fewer fatalities when the inevitable catastrophe happens.

Have a peaceful day,
Bill
[email protected]

Chris said

Finally, how do we get the waste to Nevada from all over the country safely? Trains and trucks crash and spill all the time. It’s inevitable that we’d have some terrible events in transport.

Bob Maclean
Guest
Bob Maclean
15 years ago

The reason for “storage in place” of the fuel rods is because utilities are not allowed to reprocess the fuel for further use in more plants, like the Europeans do. We only get 5-10% of the total energy out of each rod due to this ridiculous rule. The French, British, Germans and Japanese do just fine with all their nuke plants, but American protestors always freak out over anything nuclear. Meanwhile, burning coal in power plants has released tens of thousands of tons of radioactive uranium INTO THE AIR as a result of combustion. Even the Sierra Club admits this fact. This is what happens when emotions get in the way of logic and rationale.

Bob Maclean
Guest
Bob Maclean
15 years ago

The reason for “storage in place” of the fuel rods is because utilities are not allowed to reprocess the fuel for further use in more plants, like the Europeans do. We only get 5-10% of the total energy out of each rod due to this ridiculous rule. The French, British, Germans and Japanese do just fine with all their nuke plants, but American protestors always freak out over anything nuclear. Meanwhile, burning coal in power plants has released tens of thousands of tons of radioactive uranium INTO THE AIR as a result of combustion. Even the Sierra Club admits this fact. This is what happens when emotions get in the way of logic and rationale.

Staff
Member
15 years ago

So what is the reasoning behind the “ridiculous rule?” Does reprocessing cause some danger?

Dave
Guest
Dave
14 years ago

The process is called SAFSTOR:

Until the federal government approves the construction and operation of a waste-storage disposal facility, the Humboldt Bay plant will continue to store the spent fuel assemblies on-site, in keeping with safety practices approved by the NRC. The 390 spent fuel assemblies are now kept and monitored under specially treated water in a stainless-steel lined, spent fuel pool in the fuel handling building (SAFSTOR).

Dave
Guest
Dave
14 years ago

The process is called SAFSTOR:

Until the federal government approves the construction and operation of a waste-storage disposal facility, the Humboldt Bay plant will continue to store the spent fuel assemblies on-site, in keeping with safety practices approved by the NRC. The 390 spent fuel assemblies are now kept and monitored under specially treated water in a stainless-steel lined, spent fuel pool in the fuel handling building (SAFSTOR).

Staff
Member
14 years ago
Reply to  Dave

Thanks I appreciate that information.

Kathy
Guest
Kathy
13 years ago

well what do u all think of nuclear power now? will it be 100% safe EVER? I won’t chance it and i hope to encourage others not to as well!