EnergySolutions planned to purchase a Wisconsin nuclear power plant by the end of the month, the company told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week.
EnergySolutions received “all required regulatory approvals” for its purchase of Kewaunee Power Station, according to a letter to NRC dated Tuesday. The company and plant owner Dominion Energy were expected to finalize the sale June 28 or so, EnergySolutions said.
The sale follows the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s (WPSC) unanimously vote May 18 to approve Kewaunee’s sale — the final regulatory hurdle keeping EnergySolutions from buying the plant. NRC gave the transaction its seal of approval back in March.
The months-long WPSC review process ended positively for EnergySolutions despite opposition from another decommissioning company, New York-based NorthStar, which was allowed to intervene on proceedings in September.
NorthStar argued that Dominion had not used a competitive process to select a decommissioning contractor, and that it could have done the job for around $500 million, lower than EnergySolutions’ projected price of $724 million.
Despite NorthStar’s challenge, EnergySolutions COO Jeff Richardson told RadWaste Monitor June 6 that the company “took the right steps” during the WPSC review process and that it was “pretty happy with how things went.”
EnergySolutions and Dominion agreed to terms on the Carlton, Wisc., Kewaunee plant’s sale in May 2021. Once the transaction becomes final, EnergySolutions will have four decommissioning projects under its belt, including California’s San Onofre plant, Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant in Nebraska and Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island Unit 2.
