Dairyland Power, Energy Solutions reach stewardship agreement

Dairyland Power Cooperative and Energy Solutions have reached an agreement that will facilitate the decommissioning of the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor (LACBWR) site in Genoa, Wisconsin, they announced this past week.

This is the second agreement of this kind that has been arranged following the decommissioning of the Zion Nuclear Plant in Illinois.

“Dairyland has found a partner with the necessary expertise and experience to finish decommissioning LACBWR, allowing us to focus on our core mission to safely and reliably deliver power to our members,” Rob Palmberg, vice president of generation for Dairyland, said. “Since we will continue to operate our Genoa #3 Station at the site, we have reached an arrangement where Dairyland and EnergySolutions will work together to ensure success of the LACBWR decommissioning while minimizing any impact to the ongoing Genoa #3 operations.”

Through this agreement, a "Possession Only" license will be transferred to LaCrosse Solutions, a company owned by Energy Solutions; it will take on all decommissioning activity that is not related to the spent nuclear fuel storage facility at the site. In order to begin work, this agreement will be required to gain the regulatory approval of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Following the project's completion, the Dairyland license will be changed to cover the spent fuel site.