Kewaunee Plant Closure Raises Long-Term Nuclear Storage Questions

Financial and safety questions are surfacing about the planned closure of the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a meeting in Kewaunee Wednesday night to hear public comments about next month’s shutdown of the nuclear reactor, owned by Dominion Energy. Under the decommissioning process that the company wants to use, highly radioactive waste could be kept in concrete and steel casks at the plant site for up to 60 years. Ken Lienarens of Algoma says that’s too long a time.

“Having a non-functioning piece of equipment there with licensed material in it – no matter how slight – it’s somewhat of a hazard and certainly an eyesore and a tax issue for the town of Carlton.”

Carlton is the rural township along Lake Michigan that’s home to the plant. Town Supervisor Steve Tadisch says the town doesn’t seem to have access to decommissioning funds set aside for the shutdown, and may get stuck paying for things like an assessment of the property.

“When that plant was established, they always said it would not cost municipalities any money to decommission that plant, and here we have bills piling up on our desk for all this stuff.”

Dominion spokesman Mark Kanz says his company is talking with town officials about the local costs and likely decline in property tax revenue. As far as how long the nuclear waste will stay in Kewaunee County, Kanz says that’s up to the Department of Energy.

“Until the Department of Energy comes forward and accepts its responsibility to take the spent fuel, we’re charged with babysitting it.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is promising to keep up its safety inspections as long as the waste is on Dominion’s property.