The decommissioning company aiming to purchase a Wisconsin nuclear power plant expects that the state regulatory reviewing the transaction should make a decision before the summer, according to a recent letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC) has received its final party briefings and won’t hold any more hearings on the sale of Kewaunee Power Station to EnergySolutions from Dominion Energy, EnergySolutions told NRC in a letter dated March 30. A final decision “is anticipated in May 2022,” the company said.
A WPSC spokesperson confirmed to RadWaste Monitor via email Monday that the commission was scheduled to discuss the transaction May 12.
The Kewaunee transaction has been far from straightforward for WPSC, thanks in part to NorthStar, another decommissioning company that was allowed in September to intervene on the proceedings.
NorthStar has suggested that the commission implement a fixed-price contract with EnergySolutions that includes financial assurances to ensure that cash left over in Kewaunee’s decommissioning trust fund is returned to ratepayers after the project is complete. EnergySolutions argued in a March 28 filing that such an action could “potentially shift risks back onto ratepayers.”
EnergySolutions has also complained about NorthStar’s “misleading” claim that, if it had been selected for the job, it could have decommissioned Kewaunee for around $500 million — significantly less than EnergySolutions’ quote of around $724 million.
EnergySolutions and Dominion agreed to Kewaunee’s terms of sale in May 2021, but WPSC must approve the transaction before it can move ahead. As of Monday, the commission had yet to make its decision. NRC approved the Carlton, Wisc., plant’s sale March 31.
