Resources

RESOURCES

Document Repository

1. A collection of relevant documents collated in one place and hosted by the Cal Poly Humboldt Digital Commons.

PROJECT REPORTS

1. A Primer on Scenario Planning, by Alec Brown

   This primer discusses the applicability of scenario planning as a means of embracing uncertainty and identifying multiple plausible scenarios to guide robust future planning.

2. Site Characteristics: Vulnerabilities, Opportunities, and Strategies for Managing Risk from Sea-Level Rise to Humboldt Bay’s Spent Nuclear Fuel Site, by Jen Marlow, Mike Pero, and Alec Brown

   The Site Characteristics report distills thousands of pages of technical and safety documents into discrete analysis of the potential coastal and climate risks to the Humboldt Bay spent nuclear fuel site. This report describes in detail the Humboldt Bay Independent Spent Nuclear Fuel Installation, provides a thorough site and waste characterization, examines sea level rise and coastal hazard risks to the site, and issues recommendations for mitigating risk.
   

3. 44 Feet: Focus Group Workshops Report, by Alec Brown, Jen Marlow, and Tom Marlow

   This 73-page report makes six recommendations for responsible long-term management of spent nuclear fuel on Humboldt Bay in a climate-changed era: 1) Form collaborative partnerships; 2) fund joint fact finding; 3) review existing standards and practices; 4) update industry and government standards; 5) explore (beyond-design-basis) nightmare accident scenarios, and 6) enhance public engagement. Recommendations are derived from four future scenarios envisioned by tribal, citizen, industry, government, NGO, and academic participants in Focus Group workshops hosted at Humboldt in the summer of 2022.

   The report can inform future governance, policy, and planning decisions around the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel in an era of climate change and increased coastal hazards. The report also recommends an adaptive pathways approach to inform step-wise future planning in light of critical uncertainties.
   

4. 44abovesealevel.com

   This archival website chronicles the history of the spent nuclear fuel site on Humboldt Bay and considers present and future vulnerabilities.

COMMENT LETTERS

1. 2021 Nuclear Decommissioning Cost Triennial Proceeding Comment Letter (Feb. 16, 2023)

   Read our comment letter responding to PG&E’s proposal to perform an updated tsunami hazard and sea level rise assessment for the Humboldt Bay Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (HB ISFSI), submitted as part of a 2021 NDCTP settlement agreement.

2. Comment Re: Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Multipurpose Marine Terminal Project
   (August 25, 2023).

   Read our comment letter to the Humboldt Bay Harbor and Conservation District requesting an impacts review of the proposed changes to the navigation channel entrance on the structural integrity of the rip rap wall protecting Buhne Point from bluff erosion.

COLLABORATIVE IMPACT

1. 2021 Nuclear Decommissioning Cost Triennial Proceeding Comment Letter (Feb. 16, 2023)

Read our comment letter responding to PG&E’s proposal to perform an updated tsunami hazard and sea level rise assessment for the Humboldt Bay Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (HB ISFSI), submitted as part of a 2021 NDCTP settlement agreement.

2. HUMBOLDT COUNTY EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: READY OR NOT? (June 16, 2023)

A 2023 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury 2022–2023 report issued recommendations to improve Humboldt County’s Disaster Preparedness, recommending that: “The Humboldt County Sheriff direct the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services to include a completely updated Humboldt County Emergency Operations Plan that includes an annex or contingency plan, addressing any Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation-related emergencies by no later than December 31, 2024 (F10)” (emphasis added) (p. 12). F10: “Humboldt County officials take Pacific Gas & Electric’s assertions regarding the safety of the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation at face value. There is no Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation component or business plan included in the County’s 2015 Emergency Operations Plan. This omission may lead to a delay in emergency responses and hazard mitigation” (p. 11).

3. 2021 Nuclear Decommissioning Cost Triennial Proceeding Final Decision (September 21, 2023)

The California Public Utilities Commission’s Final Decision includes a provision noting that PG&E will perform an updated tsunami hazard assessment for the Humboldt Bay spent nuclear fuel site that incorporates “the most current information about sea level rise and tsunamigenic earthquakes benchmarked against the similar analysis performed for the SONGS ISFSI.” We will share the report here once it becomes available.

PRESENTATIONS

• See Calendar.

PRESS

• EcoNews Report, “Tsunamis, Sea Level Rise, and Humboldt Bay's Spent Nuclear Waste Site,” Oct. 23, 2023.

• Yale Climate Connections, “The climate threat to California’s stored nuclear waste,” Oct. 17. 2023.

• Boyce Upholt, “Spent nuclear fuel sits on a crumbling California coastline. So what to do?,” California Sea Grant News, July 12, 2023.

• Michelle Loxton, How Diablo Canyon’s likely delayed decommissioning will be extremely costly and comes with risks, KCLU, Nov. 25, 2022 (interview with PG&E Community Advisory Board Member, Mike Manetas, and Jennifer Marlow of the 44 Feet project).

• Alec Brown, “Reconciling Nuclear Safety and Climate Resilience,” EcoNews Vol. 52, No. 10 – November 2022 by EcoNews - Issuu

• Tara Duggan, “Here’s where sea levels are rising fastest in California. Homes, a nuclear facility and part of Highway 101 are all at risk,” San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 1, 2022.

• J.A. Savage, “44 Feet,” North Coast Journal, Sept. 15, 2022. 

• EcoNews Report Podcast, “The Future of Humboldt’s Nuclear Waste Site,” Jan. 1, 2022. 

• J.A. Savage, “The Atomic Priesthood, Giant Rutabagas and What's Next for Humboldt's Decommissioned Nuke Plant,” North Coast Journal, Dec. 16, 2021.

• J.A. Savage, “PG&E Reactor Officially Decommissioned, Nuclear Waste Not”, North Coast Journal, Nov. 18, 2021

• J.A. Savage, “Dancing on the Hum Nuke's Grave is Strictly Prohibited,” North Coast Journal, Nov. 04, 2021

• Isabella Vanderheiden, “PG&E completes decommissioning process, ends nuclear facility license”, Times-Standard, Oct. 30, 2021