A report from the newly established Energy Futures Initiative chronicles the growing number of U.S. nuclear plants that are retiring long before their Nuclear Regulatory Commission license expires.

In the last six years alone, five nuclear power stations totaling 5,000 megawatts have closed in Florida, California, Vermont, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

The United States maintains a large but shrinking nuclear power fleet, according to the report from the nongovernmental group led by former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. As of July, 61 nuclear stations with 99 commercially active reactors operated across 30 states. This is twice as many reactors as operate in the next two most significant nuclear markets combined, France and Japan, EFI said.

But the Energy Information Administration puts the average age of commercial domestic reactors at 36 years, with the oldest operating reactors having started service 48 years ago, according to the report.

By 2050, EIA estimates that 25% of plants now operating will be retired. A slew of power market factors, ranging from weak demand to competition from electricity generated by cheap natural gas and subsidized renewable projects, are often cited for nuclear retirements.

The situation seems ripe for companies involved heavily in the back-end business, including AREVA, to expand. AREVA Nuclear Materials said recently that it had reached a deal to extract and ship the reactor pressure vessel from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The contract is dependent on NorthStar Group Services closing the deal to purchase the shuttered plant from current owner Entergy for decommissioning.

Another six plants are scheduled to retire in the next nine years, according to the EIA. For example, Entergy plans to retire the Pilgrim plant in Massachusetts by mid-2019, while Exelon will close the Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania that year absent a change in government policy, such as some type of state energy incentive.

But government regulation is key to maximizing longer-term growth in the U.S. back-end business, according to AREVA. “Clarity in federal regulations for consolidated storage and decommissioning continues to be an important need in business planning and financial investment,” said AREVA spokesman Curtis Roberts.

With an eye toward potential consolidated interim storage of spent fuel from U.S. commercial reactors and its eventual disposal in a deep geological repository, an AREVA business is also teaming with U.S. rail companies to support the Energy Department in developing a new railcar to move spent fuel canisters cross-country, Roberts said.