For many communities who host nuclear power plants, the threat of plant closure is familiar and distressing. Nuclear power plant closures often inflict swift, sudden, and severe economic impacts on host communities, including the loss of skilled labor and tax revenue. The lengthy decommissioning process combined with the indefinite on-site presence of nuclear waste often thwarts timely site redevelopment, thereby delaying efforts to mitigate these negative fiscal impacts.

In recent years, a combination of state and federal legislation has delayed the inevitability of plant closure in some instances. This respite is temporary, however, as all plants will eventually close. In this context, and over the past three years, the Nuclear Communities Technical Assistance Team (NC-TA, project team) has worked with nuclear power host communities around the country to plan for closures and to fill the socioeconomic gaps between operation and decommissioning, and between decommissioning and site redevelopment.

Since 2021, power generation from renewable sources has surpassed both coal and nuclear power generation in the United States. As the nation pushes towards more carbon-free energy, renewable host communities will eventually face their own economic challenges with decommissioning. As renewable energy developments begin to supplant fossil fuels and new nuclear technologies gain traction, both energy host communities and developers are presented with an opportunity to plan for reproducible and sustainable economic success. To that end, the lessons learned from the decommissioning of nuclear power plants provide a roadmap for navigating the complex cycle of energy transition across multiple energy sectors.

Read How Nuclear Power Decommissioning Can Inform the Energy Transition