The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved on Tuesday the transfer of the license for the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor in Genoa, Wis., from the Dairyland Power Cooperative to EnergySolutions subsidiary LaCrosseSolutions LLC.
The license transfer, which Dairyland requested in October, allows LaCrosseSolutions to expedite decommissioning activities at the site, NRC said in a press release. The La Crosse nuclear plant shut down in 1987, the same year NRC changed the original operating license to a possession-only license, allowing the on-site storage of nuclear material and waste and decommissioning.
The terms of the transfer dictate that Dairyland remain the site owner and retain title to the spent nuclear fuel, which is currently stored in dry casks on the site. EnergySolutions will lease the above-ground structures, minus the spent fuel storage, and carry out decommissioning.
EnergySolutions reached a similar agreement in the decommissioning of Illinois’ Zion Nuclear Power Station in 2010.
