PG&E says has been unable to locate missing nuclear fuel

Washington (Platts)--17Aug2004

Pacific Gas and Electric Co said Tuesday it had informed the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission that it was still unable to locate segments of a used
nuclear fuel rod at its Humboldt Bay Power Plant near Eureka in northern
California. The San Francisco-based utility said the segments had not been
found, despite the fact that personnel had completed the physical search of
the most likely locations and all easily accessible spaces in the plants' used
fuel storage pool. 

In addition, the utility said its review of plant records, nuclear material
shipping records and interviews with former plant personnel had not
definitively identified the location of the fuel segments. Still, the utility
said that based on the results of the investigation to date, and the
administrative, radiological, and security barriers in place at the plant, it
"continues to believe that the segments are either safely stored in the used
fuel pool, or were shipped to a facility licensed to accept radioactive
material, no more recently than 1986."

The company told NRC in late June there was conflicting documentation
regarding the used fuel segments. The plant's records indicate that the
segments were either stored in the used fuel pool in 1968, or had been shipped
offsite in 1969. Since then, the company has reviewed the records associated
with the used fuel pool as well as with shipments of used fuel and other
significant radioactive materials; interviewed former plant personnel and
contractors and conducted a physical search of the pool. It said all three
efforts are continuing. 

The company said it believes it is most probable that the segments are in an
area of the pool that is not readily accessible, and may be located during a
more detailed search of these locations. If that is not the case, the utility
said it is likely that the segments were shipped offsite to one of several
licensed facilities the company used in the past.

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