KEWAUNEE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A decade after the Kewaunee nuclear power plant was shut down, there’s new life coming to the property.
EnergySolutions has had a team working on decommissioning the nearly 900-acre site for more than a year.
The demolition is being done in four phases. Phase one, which included demolition of five buildings on site, was completed at the end of 2023.
Work is now being done to prep for phase two, when more structures surrounding the domed containment building will be coming down.
“Phase three is where we get into the more radiologically impacted buildings containment, aux building, fuel handling building and then phase four is when you kind of pull everything together,” said Project Director Ron Worster.
Each week, according to Worster, containers of contaminated debris are taken from the Kewaunee County property to disposal sites across the country.
The goal of the decommissioning is to restore the lake front property to its more natural state. It’s a carefully planned process that is expected to take another seven to eight years to complete — decades ahead of the regulatory schedule set forth by the government for projects like this.
“For us, we have 60 years to complete it, but the risks associated with leaving a plant in this condition — we have the ability, we have the technology to do it, we have the experience. We’ve undertaken other decommissioning projects, so we’ll clean the plant up and try to restore the environment,” said Worster.
While EnergySolutions is leading the decommissioning, it is partnering with a great deal of local businesses and organizations to complete the project. That includes Lakeshore Technical College, where EnergySolutions has created a training program in order to hire regional employees.
Worster said, “Give them the basic knowledge and we’ve hired them for this project. That will give them experience in decommissioning, experience in the nuclear industry, so they can stay here and work for the eight years or so of the project. Then they have a skill set to take either to other nuclear facilities or other decommissioning projects.”
Decommissioning is underway at the Kewaunee nuclear power plant. Crews are currently working through phase two which started at the beginning of the year and could take 15-18 months to complete. (WLUK)
While the decommissioning and cleanup of this property could be completed by the middle of 2031, there really is no timetable for any redevelopment of this lakefront property.
According to Worster, “We do have to get through the license termination process for the NRC to determine what the end use will be. The other limitation we have in redevelopment is the ISFSI, where the spent fuel is stored.”
It will be up to the federal government to remove that spent fuel before true redevelopment of the site can even be discussed.
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