Regulators in the US state of Wisconsin have rejected the sale of the Kewaunee plant to Dominion Resources. The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) voted 2-1 against the sale, chair Burnie Bridge saying the sale would not “preserve enough of a Wisconsin voice in critical future decisions.”
Kewaunee’s owners, Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL) and the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS), had agreed to Dominion’s $220 million offer, made last autumn, but still needed the approval of the PSC.
The single PSC member who supported the sale, Robert Garvin, said that the sale would have “materially reduced the cost volatility and overall risk of continued ownership for customers.”
Bridge and the other commission member, Mark Meyer, were concerned that ownership of the plant by a firm based in a different state would have meant a reclassification of the facility as a wholesale generation plant and exempted it from state regulation in matters such as radwaste management and decommissioning. The state would also have no influence over future sales of the plant.
WPL and WPS are said to be considering their options for appeal.
The single Kewaunee unit’s operating licence expires in December 2013 and no extension has been applied for. The PWR, which started operation in 1974 is rated at 574MWe and underwent a steam generator replacement in 2001.
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