SMUD's Rancho Seco PWR was closed by a 1989 voter initiative; most of the site was released for unrestricted use in 2006 and the NRC terminated the reactor license (DPR-54) in August 2018. Spent fuel and some waste stay in the site's dry-storage ISFSI.
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Current state
| Status | License terminated |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Herald, California |
| Site | Rancho Seco |
| Units | Unit 1 |
| Unit count | 1 |
| Reactor types | PWR |
| Owner / licensee | Sacramento Municipal Utility District |
| Strategy | Mixed |
| Final shutdown | 1989 |
| Target completion | 2018 |
| Spent fuel | Spent fuel and GTCC waste in the on-site NUHOMS ISFSI (site-specific license). |
| Notable issue | First US nuclear plant closed by public vote (1989). |
Notes
Strategy "Mixed": SAFSTOR followed by DECON (per LTP).
Timeline
- 1989 — A voter initiative shut down the plant. (source)
- 2006-10-23 — SMUD completed decommissioning of the bulk of the site, and the NRC released it for unrestricted use. (source)
- 2018-08-31 — NRC terminated Operating License DPR-54. (source)
The timeline is append-only: corrections are added as new entries. Stated targets appear in the current-state table, never as milestones.
Related sites
- Brennilis (Monts d'Arrée EL-4) Active dismantling · France
- Crystal River Unit 3 Site restoration · United States
- Dresden Unit 1 SAFSTOR · United States
- Duane Arnold Energy Center Restart planned · United States
- Fermi Unit 1 (Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant) SAFSTOR · United States
- Fort Calhoun Station Site restoration · United States
- GE Vallecitos (VBWR and EVESR) Active dismantling · United States
- Humboldt Bay Power Plant Unit 3 License terminated · United States
See all 72 sites in the Nuclear Decommissioning Tracker →
Sources
- Sacramento Municipal Utility District; Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station (license termination) — Federal Register / NRC (primary), checked 2026-10-11
- Rancho Seco nuclear power plant ends decommissioning — Power Engineering, checked 2026-10-11
- Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities — World Nuclear Association, checked 2026-10-11