The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has officially terminated the license for the long-closed Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Plant in California, according to a notice posted Tuesday to the Federal Register.
That opens the property in Herald, Calif., for unrestricted use.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) began providing power from the pressurized water reactor in April 1975 and closed the plant in June 1989 following a referendum by local residents. The reactor was defueled in December of that year and the NRC revised the operating license to “possession only” in March 1992, the Federal Register notice says.
Decommissioning at the 87-acre industrial facility began in 1997 and was largely complete by 2016. As of that year, the entire project was estimated to cost $520.1 million, according to a March 2017 decommissioning funding update from SMUD to the NRC.
Phase 1 of decommissioning, covering most of the property and facilities, wrapped up in 2006. Phase II, including removal of Class B and C low-level radioactive waste from an interim on-site storage building and decommissioning of the facility itself, was completed roughly a decade later.
That left only operations needed to demonstrate the utility was complying with federal regulations for facility release standards.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is seeking a 40-year renewal for the license for Rancho Seco’s independent spent fuel storage installation. That would extend the license to June 2060. The dry storage pad near the plant holds 493 used fuel assemblies in 21 canisters, along with one canister of Greater-Than-Class-C waste.