According to last Monday’s Wisconsin Herald Times Reporter:
Dominion Resources Inc. said Monday it will shut down the one-reactor power plant (Kewaunee Power Station) on the shore of Lake Michigan in the spring because it could not sell it and cannot operate it profitably.
“The biggest factor is the market price of power,” said Daniel Stoddard, senior vice president of nuclear operations at Dominion.
The Herald-Times Reporter had this time table for the plant’s closure:
The plan is to stop generating electricity in about six months, accompanied by phased layoffs. The plant will be put into safe storage condition. Nuclear fuel in the reactor will be moved to the spent-fuel pool, where it must stay for five to seven years, after which it can be moved to dry-cask storage on site.
At some point, the federal government is supposed to take possession of the used fuel and the plant will be dismantled and the site returned to greenfield condition. Dominion has 60 years in which to accomplish the latter.
Here’s a link to the article: http://www.htrnews.com/article/20121023/MAN0101/310230164/Kewaunee-nuclear-plant-shut-down-spring
