R. Decker Lead Final Status Survey Engineer
J. Field Engineering Superintendent
W. Hawley Dismantlement Superintendent
B. Jones Principal Quality Engineer
M. Murdock Senior Radiological Engineer, Decommissioning
S. Nichols Radiological Health Supervisor
E. Ronningen Superintendent, Rancho Seco Assets
D. Schelosky Security Specialist
D. Tallman Final Status Survey Engineer

October 7, 2009

Rancho Seco site released as greenfields, except for the 6-acre ISFSI

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the request of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to release most of the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant site near Herald, Calif., for unrestricted public use.

The contamination level of the land, approximately 80 acres, falls below NRC regulatory requirements that allow a maximum radiation dose of 25 millirem per year from residual contamination. (The average person in the United States receives about 300 millirem a year from background, or natural, radiation.)

Rancho Seco's NRC licenses will still apply to a low-level radioactive waste storage building and a dry-cask storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. The total land remaining under license is about six acres. SMUD remains responsible for the security and protection of this land and the waste storage facilities, and is required to maintain $100 million in liability insurance coverage until all radioactive material has been removed from the site.

The NRC issued SMUD an operating license for Rancho Seco in August 1974, and the plant began commercial operations in April 1975. It was shut down in June 1989. SMUD submitted its license termination plan in 2006, and the NRC approved the plan in 2007. Recent NRC surveys verified that cleanup met the 25 millirem requirement.

NRC's Safety Evaluation Report of SMUD's request to release the site is available in the agency's ADAMS online document library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html by entering ML092520046 in the search field.

[Source: NRC press release 09-165, "NRC COMPLETES DECOMMISSIONING OF RANCHO SECO NUCLEAR PLANT, RELEASES SITE FOR UNCONDITIONAL USE", October 7, 2009]

April 7, 2009

Rancho Seco nuclear plant decommissioning - summary of site status

Here's the summary of plant status, with info from NRC inspection report released today:

The Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station began commercial operations during April 1975 but was permanently shut down during June 1989. SMUD commenced with decommissioning during February 1997. By August 2002, all spent reactor fuel had been transferred from the spent fuel pool to the onsite Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation. The NRC approved the License Termination Plan (LTP) during November 2007. At the time of this inspection, SMUD was conducting decommissioning activities in accordance with requirements specified in the LTP.

Since the previous inspection, SMUD had completed remediation of the reactor building and had removed some contaminated soils located outside of the reactor building equipment hatch. Also, the tank farm area was remediated. Final status surveys were complete in all areas of the plant. Work in progress during the inspection included industrial decommissioning. Industrial decommissioning included removing non-impacted electrical equipment, preparing the site structures for long-term closure, and conducting road surface asphalt repairs.

Future work includes submittal of license amendment requests for partial site release and reduction in emergency plan requirements. Once the NRC approves the final status survey reports, the licensee plans to solicit NRC approval to reduce the footprint of the 10 CFR Part 50 license to the area of the Interim Onsite Storage Building (IOSB) and to reduce the scope of the emergency plan.

[Source: Robert J. Evans, et al., "NRC INSPECTION REPORT 050-00312/09-001", April 6, 2009]

May 19, 2007

New this week from NRC Public Document Room

* [2007-05-18] IR 05000312-07-002, on 04/23 - 04/26/2007, Rancho Seco, Decommissioning Activities. ML071290068 2007-05-08 18 05000312 DPR-054 IR-07-002 2007-05-08 2007-05-17 May 8, 2007 Mr. James Shetler, Assistant General Manager Energy Supply Sacramento Municipal Utility District 6201 'S' Street P.O. Box 15830 Sacramento, California 95852 SUBJECT: NRC INSPECTION REPORT 050-003

* [2007-05-15] Enclosures 1-5, Maps of Rancho Seco, Anthropology Report ML070730671 2006-04-30 6 2006-04-30 2007-05-14

* [2007-05-15] Milford Donaldson ltr re: Follow-up to Letter and Phone Discussion Regarding Cultural and Historic Resources for the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station License Termination Plan. ML070750080 2007-03-16 2 2007-03-16 2007-05-14

* [2007-05-15] Milford Donaldson ltr re: Response to Requested Information Regarding Cultural and Historic Resources for the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station License Termination Plan (TAC No. L52668). ML070680169 2007-03-12 2 2007-03-12 2007-05-14

* [2007-05-15] Response to Requested Information Regarding Cultural and Historic Resources for the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station License Termination Plan. ML070710568 2007-05-14

* [2007-05-15] Section 106 Consultation for Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station License Termination Plan, Sacramento County, CA. ML070610480 2007-02-15 2 2007-02-15 2007-05-14

* [2007-05-15] Steve Redeker Ltr Re: Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station, Request for Additional Information Re: Environmental Assessment for License Termination Plan (Tac No. L52668). ML063460349 2007-02-27 8 2007-02-27 2007-05-14

Recent NRC inspections

* (released June 9) Rancho Seco decommissioning report 50-312-2003-2

* Rancho Seco report 50-312-2003-1

July 13, 2003

Backers hold out hope for funding training center including Rancho Seco

Sacramento Bee article describes iffy prospects for a Sacramento Chamber of Commerce-backed plan to use the decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear plant site as a realistic training classroom for a national security training center. The $60-million potential price tag for the proposed expanded training center seems right in line with the $300-million line item for regional centers.

[Source: David Whitney (Bee Washington Bureau), "Backers hold out hope for center funding", Sacramento Bee, July 13, 2003]

* Rancho Seco site envisioned as anti-terrorism classroom for national security regional training center

* Rancho Seco - little prospect for Congress to specify this, or any particular site, for training center idea

* Rancho Seco - use for national security training center could proceed even without Congress requiring its use

June 9, 2003

Decommissioning update

According to the NRC inspection report released today, all spent fuel has been removed from the spent fuel pool to the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) -- that's 493 fuel assemblies in 21 casks. The relocation to ISFSI was completed on August 26, 2002. Dismantling activities are ongoing in the reactor, auxiliary, and spent fuel buildings. All 11 spent fuel pool racks have been transported to a disposal site. During the unloading of one of the racks at the disposal site, the slings attached to the rack were cut by the sharp edges of the rack. The reactor head has been removed from the reactor, and disposal options are being considered.

The shipping box involved in the cut strap incident was found to have a spot with fixed contamination of about 1,000 counts per minute as measured with GM tube frisker. The survey that found the contamination was conducted before planned free release of the box as clean scrap. The contamnation was found on the part of the box where the rack hit, but the disposal site had released it as clean and returned it to Rancho Seco. Before scrapping the box, Rancho Seco sent it to fabricator to help in constructing a replacement box. The transfer of licensed material (the slight contamination) was a violation of NRC requirements. Here's how the inspection report put it: "Although there is no significant health effects from these small amounts of radioactive contamination, NRC regulations do not permit the transfer or possession of any licensed material to any entity not licensed or exempted from license. By the disposal site improperly classifying the box as free of contamination it meant that the box could be transferred to someone without a license, which is exactly what Rancho Seco did."

The primary security alarm station for the ISFSI is located at the utility's downtown Sacramento office. The ISFSI alarm monitoring screens could be seen, through a window, by visitors entering the building. The utility has installed a partition and reflective film to keep visitors from seeing the alarm monitors. NRC is evaluating the matter before deciding whether it was a violation of NRC requirements.

Rancho Seco has deployed a few new radiological survey instruments including the FH 40G Tele-probe and the Eberline TM E600 data logger with a "smart probe". In 2002, the plant added two additional Canberra ApTez personnel contamination monitors in addition to the two ApTez' deployed in 2001. These monitors had been purchased to replace the aging Eberline PCM and due to their improved alpha discrimination.

During 2002, the licensee assigned dosimetry monitoring devices to 321 individuals. The total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) ranged from 0.000 rem to 0.914 rem. The sum of the total effective dose equivalent for all individuals who were issued dosimetry was 27.896 rem. Rancho Seco uses Luxel optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimeters for evaluating beta/gamma external doses, and Nutrack for neutron exposures. These dosimeters are provided by Landauer. The plant uses electronic dosimeters for controlling the day-to-day personnel exposure between the times the Luxel and Nutrack are read by the dosimeter vendors. The plant uses the computerized dose tracking system ProRad for reading the electronic dosimeters and automatically assigning the estimated dose to an individual. If the monitoring device, Luxel or Nutrack, or the direct reading/electronic dosimeters report greater than 100 millirem and the values between the monitoring device and direct reading/electronic dosimeters differ by more than +/- 20 percent the plant conducts an evaluation to determine the dose to be assigned.

On March 24, 2003, the plant submitted the 2002 Annual Radioactive Effluent Release Report. The report included summaries of radioactive liquid releases from the regenerant holdup tanks and from the retention basins. The regenerant holdup tanks contents were released to the retention basins and the retention basins were discharged offsite. All calculations required by 10 CFR Part 50 were based on the retention basin discharges. In 2002, there were 34 regenerant holdup tanks batch releases and 38 retention basin discharges.

There was one unplanned liquid release that occurred on February 12, 2002. Approximately 420 gallons of radioactively contaminated water was lost from regenerant holdup tank "B" when the tank's agitator shaft seal failed. Some of the water entered the plant storm drain system. The plant calculated that the maximum organ dose associated with this unplanned release was 3.66E-6 millirem to a child/bone and the total effective dose equivalent was 1.78E-6 millirem to an adult. The annual calculated total effective dose commitment due to liquid effluents was 2.38E-01 millirem or approximately 7.93 percent of the applicable limit. The maximum calculated annual organ dose commitment was 3.72E-01 millirem mostly to the child bone or approximately 3.72 percent of the applicable limit.

There were no fission or activation gases nor particulate airborne releases, the report says. The annual calculated dose at the site boundary due to tritium was 1.11E-01 millirem which is 0.7 percent of the applicable limit.

In 2002, there were 71 shipments of solid waste made. Sixty-nine solid waste shipments were transported by highway and two transported by rail. All but one of the shipments went to a licensed low level radioactive waste disposal facility. One shipment went to a licensed material recovery facility. Based on the information provided by the plant, NRC inspectors calculated that the total volume of waste shipped was 1213.1 cubic meters with a total activity of 64.8 curies.

On March 28, 2002, an worker suffered a fatal heart attack while working in the reactor building.

May 16, 2003

Rancho Seco plant site to be put to good use