A company that specializes in decommissioning nuclear reactors is negotiating to acquire and dismantle Pennsylvania’s infamous Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 reactor, Kallanish Energy reports.
The long-mothballed reactor was the site of the worst nuclear accident in the U.S., in 1979.
Utah-based Energy Solutions has signed a non-binding term sheet with Gpu Nuclear, a subsidiary of Ohio-based FirstEnergy.
Terms of the agreement were not released, but the decommissioning of the reactor, near Middletown, Pennsylvania, is expected to cost in excess of $1 billion.
“We are looking forward to working with FirstEnergy to acquire the asset and to safely complete the decommissioning of this site,” said Ken Roebuck, president and CEO of Energy Solutions, in a statement.
Reactor 2 has been in a safe and stable storage condition known as Post Defueling Monitored Storage for the last 26 years, under the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Nrc).
The nuclear fuel rods were removed in the 1980s and moved to Idaho. The 14-year cleanup costing $1 billion was completed in 1993.
With the term sheet signed, the two companies will proceed with definitive agreements and applications to the Nrc for the transfer of all licenses and assets.
To conduct the decommissioning, EnergySolutions and Jingoli, a New Jersey-based construction company, formed a joint venture. The decommissioning work will result in the complete dismantling and removal of all nuclear waste.
EnergySolutions has recently completed nuclear decommissioning projects in Illinois, Wisconsin and Arkansas. It is also working on decommissioning projects with partners in California and Nebraska.
The deal will not include Reactor 1, which is owned by Exelon and is scheduled to close this fall.
Exelon has been pushing to get state support to keep its reactor open, but the Pennsylvania Legislature has rejected two bills that would have aided the struggling nuclear plant.
In comparison, the Ohio Legislature has approved a bailout for two nuclear plants in northern Ohio.
