JV Plans to Decommission Oyster Creek Nuke Within 8 Years
David Wagman | July 31, 2018Oyster Creek nuclear station. Credit: NRC
Exelon Generation says it will sell the 636 megawatt Oyster Creek nuclear generating station to Holtec International, which will start to decommission the power plant and assume ownership of the site, equipment and used nuclear fuel. Holtec will manage all site decommissioning and restoration activities.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019, pending approval by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other regulatory agencies.
Oyster Creek is about 60 miles east of Philadelphia.The plant entered service in 1969, making it one of the oldest nuclear power plants in the country. It uses a GE-supplied boiling water reactor to generate electricity.
Holtec will contract with Comprehensive Decommissioning International (CDI) to handle the plant's decontamination and decommissioning. CDI is a joint venture formed in July between Holtec and Canada-based SNC-Lavalin. Plans call for Oyster Creek to be decommissioned within eight years. Industry guidelines allow for 60 years to decommission a site.
CDI says that the aging nuclear fleet, along with low energy prices, mean that decommissioning has become a rapid growth market with a forecast value of more than $14 billion over the next 10 years. Single-unit nuclear stations like Oyster Creek may face the greatest risk because of their high operating cost per megawatt of output.
In late July, NextEra Energy said it would close the 615 megawatt Duane Arnold Energy Center, Iowa's only nuclear power reactor, in late 2020. Much of the single-unit plant's generating capacity will be replaced by lower-cost wind energy resources.
Holtec says that it recently submitted a license application for a storage facility in New Mexico to accept spent nuclear fuel from all nuclear plants in the U.S., including Oyster Creek. If licensed, fuel could be sent to the New Mexico facility.Peach Bottom nuclear station. Credit: Exelon
Funds from Exelon's decommissioning trust that were set aside for Oyster Creek will be transferred to Holtec.
In February 2018, Exelon Generation announced Oyster Creek would permanently shut down this fall. Exelon is required to close the power plant no later than December 2019 as part of an agreement with the State of New Jersey.
Meanwhile, Exelon said in late July that it would ask the NRC to extend the operating license of its two-unit Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station for another 20 years. If approved, the extended operating license would allow the plant to operate until 2053 and 2054.