Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions is exploring the idea of using the shuttered Kewaunee Nuclear Generating Station in Wisconsin and some of its other decommissioning sites as potential locations for future new nuclear power sites.
“We are in the early phases of exploring the use of EnergySolutions -owned former nuclear sites such as Kewaunee,” for new nuclear generation, the company wrote in a press release dated Wednesday.
The company did not go into any details as to how this might work.
“Initially, we will provide project execution and labor management expertise coupled with our proven track record in executing large capital projects that will provide utilities, developers, and prospective owners with a mission-critical solution for project delivery,” the company said in the release.
EnergySolutions purchased the retired Kewaunee plant from Dominion Energy in July 2022. EnergySolutions has been planning the decommissioning of Kewaunee, which stopped operating in 2013.
The company said in the Wednesday press release it is expanding its services to accommodate nuclear plant life extensions and new plant construction.
The idea of recycling the home of retired plants for new nuclear generation is gaining some traction these days.
Holtec International recently discussed its efforts to restart the shuttered Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan, an effort that has considerable political support among state lawmakers in and near Covert county.
At the Exchange Monitor’s RadWaste Summit in Summerlin, Nev., in early June, Holtec said that whether the effort to restart Palisades panned out or not, the company planned to put one of its new small SMR-160 modular reactors on the site.
As for EnergySolutions, its other decommissioning projects are San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California, Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant in Nebraska, and Three Mile Island Unit 2 in Pennsylvania.
