Officials have announced the Oyster Creek nuclear plant, the oldest such power station in the United States, will close more than a year ahead of schedule in October.
Citing costs and other issues, Exelon Generation, the owner of the Lacey, New Jersey, facility, made the announcement Friday, the Asbury Park Press reported, catching area residents and Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials off guard.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said the NRC had been planning on a late 2019 shutdown.
"We will have to adjust our oversight plans in response to Exelon’s announcement that it intends to move the cessation of operations up to this October," he told the Press.
The plant currently provides 500 local jobs and boosts the local economy by about $80 million, but the impact of the closure could take a while to be felt.
"Even though they stopped operating, they're physically going to stop producing energy, they're still here for a minimum of 10 more years," Lacey Township Administrator Veronica Laureigh said, the Asbury Park Press reported.
The commission will host a webinar Monday to provide information on Oyster Creek’s decommissioning process.
The Jersey Bureau of Nuclear Engineering’s Patrick Mulligan told the Asbury Park Press he expects the process to proceed in an orderly manner.
“The bureau will ensure that the Oyster Creek site is decommissioned in a manner that is protective of the environment and the health and safety of the public, and in accordance with all federal, state, and local environmental regulations,” he said. “It also will ensure that Exelon’s plans for environmental monitoring after shutdown are sufficient and providing feedback to Exelon and the NRC as necessary.”
Construction on the plant began in 1964 and it was originally commissioned Dec. 1, 1969.
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