PG&E Stores Radioactive Nuclear Fuel In Eureka
EUREKA, Calif. -- Amid concerns over the nuclear crisis in Japan come new questions about nuclear facilities in California. Radioactive fuel is stored less than 150 miles from the Northstate, in Eureka at a decommissioned nuclear power plant.
The Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant closed in 1976. The spent nuclear fuel is stored there in an underground structure completed in 2008.PG&E says the facilities are designed to withstand an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, and a tsunami surge between 28 and 43 feet above sea level.
This "decommissioned" plant is located on the coast next to the Cascadia Subduction Zone where a 9.0 or more quake happened in 1700 (a 6.5 quake also hit January 2010). Some say that we are due for another 9.0 quake. There is no guarantee that waves from a resulting tsunami would not exceed 43 feet. We experienced a tsunami from the Japan quake. Furthermore, what assurance do we have that the plant would withstand even an 8.8. The recent experience in Japan has taught us that there is a lot that cannot be predicted about a huge earthquake and tsunami.
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