Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station

"Rancho Seco" redirects here. For the community in Kern County, see Rancho Seco, California.

Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station

Location of Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station in California
Country	United States
Location	Herald, California
Coordinates	38°20′43″N 121°7′18″W / 38.34528°N 121.12167°W / 38.34528; -121.12167Coordinates: 38°20′43″N 121°7′18″W / 38.34528°N 121.12167°W / 38.34528; -121.12167
Status	Decommissioned
Commission date	April 17, 1975
Decommission date	2009
Operator(s)	SMUD 1974-present
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	Pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier	Babcock & Wilcox

The Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station is a decommissioned nuclear power plant built by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) in Herald, California.

History

In 1966, SMUD purchased 2,100 acres (850 ha) in southeast Sacramento County for a nuclear power plant, which was built in Herald, 25 miles (40 km) south-east of downtown Sacramento.

In the early 1970s, a small pond was expanded to a 160-acre (65 ha) lake to serve as an emergency backup water supply for the station. The lake has always received its water from the Folsom South Canal and has no relationship with the power plant's daily water supply. Surrounding the lake is 400 acres (160 ha) of recreational area originally operated by the County of Sacramento for day-use activities.

The 2,772 MWt Babcock & Wilcox pressurized water reactor (913 MWe) achieved initial criticality on 16 September 1974 and entered commercial operation on 17 April 1975.

On 20 March 1978 a failure of power supply for the plant's non-nuclear instrumentation system led to steam generator dryout. (ref NRC LER 312/78-001). In an ongoing study of "precursors" that could lead to a nuclear disaster if additional failures were to have occurred,^[1] in 2005 the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission concluded that this event at Rancho Seco was the third most serious safety-related occurrence in the United States^[2] (Behind the Three Mile Island accident and the cable tray fire at Browns Ferry).

The plant operated from April 1975 to June 1989 but had a lifetime capacity average of only 39%; it was closed by public vote on 7 June 1989 (despite the fact that its operating license did not expire until 11 October 2008) after multiple referendums.

Operation of the recreational area was assumed by SMUD in 1992. In cooperation with the Nature Conservancy, SMUD dedicated in June 2006 the Howard Ranch Nature Trail, a seven-mile (11 km) long trail that follows riparian and marsh habitat along Rancho Seco Lake and the adjoining Howard Ranch that once belonged to the owner of the famous racehorse Seabiscuit.

All power generating equipment has been removed from the plant and the now-empty cooling towers remain a prominent part of the local landscape. Also scattered throughout the area around the plant are abandoned air raid sirens that at one time would have warned people of a radioactivity release from the station. Additions to SMUD's Rancho Seco property have included massive solar installations and, more recently, the natural gas-fired Cosumnes Power Plant, brought online in 2006.

On 23 October 2009, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released the majority of the site for unrestricted public use, while approximately 11 acres (4.5 ha) of land including a storage building for low-level radioactive waste and a dry-cask spent fuel storage facility remain under NRC licenses.^[3] The plant cost $375 million^[4] when it was built in 1974 and it cost about $120 million (in 1974 dollars) to decommission according to the SMUD Rancho Seco Nuclear Education Center.

Gallery

Rancho Seco nuclear power plant (no longer operating)
Rancho Seco towers
The containment building with a part of the cooling tower
One of the two cooling towers, showing the base

References

↑ "Policy Issue Information". United States NRC.
↑ "Attachment 2 Policy Issue Information" (PDF). U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
↑ "Rancho Seco nuclear power plant ends decommissioning". Power Engineering. PennWell. 2009-10-26. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
↑ Wald, Matthew L. (1989-06-08). "Voters, in a First, Shut Down Nuclear Reactor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-07-09.

External links

Anti-nuclear movement in the United States

General	Anti-nuclear groups in the US California movement Great Peace March Nuclear history of the United States Nuclear power in the US Canceled nuclear plants in the US Nuclear weapons and the US Protests in the US Anti-nuclear advocates in the US

Organizations and groups	Abalone Alliance Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility Clamshell Alliance Committee for Nuclear Responsibility Corporate Accountability International Critical Mass Energy Project Friends of the Earth Greenpeace USA Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Mothers for Peace Musicians United for Safe Energy Nevada Desert Experience Nuclear Control Institute Nuclear Information and Resource Service Physicians for Social Responsibility Plowshares Movement Public Citizen Shad Alliance Sierra Club Three Mile Island Alert Women Strike for Peace

People	Daniel Berrigan William J. Bichsel Larry Bogart Pierce Brosnan Helen Caldicott Barry Commoner Frances Crowe Carrie Barefoot Dickerson Paul M. Doty Jane Fonda Randall Forsberg John Gofman Paul Gunter John Hall Jackie Hudson Sam Lovejoy Amory Lovins Gregory Minor Hermann Joseph Muller Ralph Nader Graham Nash Linus Pauling Eugene Rabinowitch Phil Radford Bonnie Raitt Martin Sheen Karen Silkwood Thomas Louis Vitale Harvey Wasserman Victor Weisskopf

Main protest sites	Black Fox Bodega Bay Diablo Canyon Indian Point Lawrence Livermore Montague Naval Base Kitsap Nevada Test Site Rancho Seco Rocky Flats San Onofre Seabrook Shoreham Three Mile Island Trojan Vermont Yankee White House Peace Vigil Y-12 Weapons Plant Yankee Rowe

Books	Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free Conservation Fallout: Nuclear Protest at Diablo Canyon Contesting the Future of Nuclear Power Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California, 1958-1978 The Cult of the Atom The Doomsday Machine (book) Fallout: An American Nuclear Tragedy Killing Our Own Licensed to Kill? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Shoreham Power Plant Making a Real Killing: Rocky Flats and the Nuclear West Nuclear Implosions: The Rise and Fall of the Washington Public Power Supply System Nuclear Politics in America We Almost Lost Detroit

Films	Atomic Ed and the Black Hole The China Syndrome Countdown to Zero Dark Circle Nuclear Tipping Point Silkwood

Nuclear power in the United States

Reactors

NRC Region I (Northeast)	Beaver Valley Calvert Cliffs FitzPatrick Ginna Hope Creek Indian Point Units 2 and 3 Limerick Millstone Units 2 and 3 Nine Mile Point Oyster Creek Peach Bottom Pilgrim Salem Seabrook Susquehanna Three Mile Island Unit 1

NRC Region II (South)	Browns Ferry Brunswick Catawba Farley Harris Hatch McGuire North Anna Oconee Robinson Sequoyah St. Lucie Summer Surry Turkey Point Vogtle Watts Bar

NRC Region III (Midwest)	Braidwood Byron Clinton Cook DAEC Davis–Besse Dresden Fermi LaSalle Monticello Palisades Perry Point Beach Prairie Island Quad Cities

NRC Region IV (West)	Arkansas Callaway Columbia Comanche Peak Cooper Diablo Canyon Grand Gulf Palo Verde River Bend South Texas Waterford Wolf Creek

Converted	Midland (natural gas) Somerset (coal) Zimmer (coal)

Closed	Big Rock Point Connecticut Yankee Crystal River CVTR EBR I EBR II Elk River Fort Calhoun Fort St. Vrain Hallam Hanford Site Humboldt Bay Indian Point Unit 1 Kewaunee La Crosse Maine Yankee Millstone Unit 1 Pathfinder Piqua Rancho Seco San Onofre Sodium Reactor Experiment Saxton ANPP SL-1 SM-1 ML-1 PM-1 PM-3A SM-1A MH-1A Shippingport Shoreham Three Mile Island Unit 2 Trojan Vallecitos Vermont Yankee Yankee Rowe Zion

Canceled	Allens Creek Atlantic Bailly Barton Bell Bend Bellefonte Black Fox Blue Hills Bodega Bay Clinch River Erie Forked River Galena Greene County Hartsville Haven Levy Marble Hill Montague Offshore Sears Isle Skagit/Hanford South River Stanislaus Sundesert Victoria WPPSS 1 3 4 5 MM-1 Yellow Creek

Future	Lee

Under construction	Summer-2 Summer-3 Vogtle-3 Vogtle-4

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Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links