Dominion, owner of the nuclear Millstone Power Station in Waterford, plans to close and decommission its Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin starting in 2013.
The announcements this week marks the first closing of a U.S. nuclear energy facility since a consortium of New England utilities closed one of the three reactors at Millstone in 1998. Dominion purchased the remaining two reactors in 2000.
Dominion is closing the Wisconsin facility because dropping natural gas costs have forced electricity prices to drop in the Midwest, eroding the nuclear facility’s profitability. The plant’s operating license didn’t expire until 2033.
While natural gas comprised 70 percent of the power generation in New England, prices in the region remain significantly higher than the Midwest.
