Radioactive and Short on Cash to Pay for Closures
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The Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant is seen in the early morning hours in Middletown, Pennsylvania on March 28, 2011. Photographer: Jeff Fusco/Getty Images
At the edge of Humboldt Bay in northern California lies a relic from the heyday of U.S. nuclear power.
The reactor was shut down in 1976. The remaining cost to decommission the plant once and for all -– cleaning up lingering radiological dangers, dismantling the remains — will be about $441 million, according to its owner, PG&E Corp.
The question is who will pay — for Humboldt Bay, and for dozens of other reactors that are in the process of closing or might soon. Nuclear operators like PG&E are supposed to lay up enough money to cover the costs, similar to how corporations fund pensions. Turns out, most haven’t…
Radioactive and Short on Cash to Pay for Closures
