Power output at the Kewaunee nuclear plant near Green Bay, Wisc. is being lowered steadily Tuesday, and facility operator Dominion Power (NYSE: D) expects the entire unit to be offline, permanently, by the afternoon, Platts reports.
The decision to shutter Kewaunee in the second quarter of 2013 was announced in October 2012, after Dominion failed to find a buyer for the plant. The low price of natural gas and of power prices generally were blamed for the plant’s demise.
Once it is powered down entirely, Kewaunee will be mothballed and placed into SAFSTOR status for up to 60 years, in which radioactivity decays in a contained environment while the plant is monitored for a period before being dismantled and decontaminated, according to Platts.
Subscribe to Nuclear Power International magazine