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Bill would create citizens advisory panel on decommissioning nuclear plants

Mark Savage
/
Entergy Corporation

A new bill would create a citizens advisory panel for the decommissioning of nuclear power plants.

Democratic State Representative Jon Hoadley introduced the bill. 

That's after the announced closing of the Palisades Nuclear Power plant in West Michigan.

Hoadley says he has questions about how the process will play out.

"This bill doesn't say yes or no to nuclear power," says Hoadley. "But it does try to help answer the question, what comes next, when a nuclear power plantdecides they're going to no longer operate."

Hoadley says he was concerned to learn that the owner of Palisades is selling it to another company.

That company will keep some of the decommissioning funds if it can do the work more quickly and cheaply.

He says stakeholders, including people who live near closing plants, deserve to have a say.

"To give them a voice in what the decommissioning process is going to look like, who are the folks they're going to hire to do this work and how are they going to make sure that we leave the place better than how we found it," he says.
 
Michigan Radio has not received a response to its request for a statement about the bill from Republican State Representative Beth Griffin, in whose district the Palisades plant is located.
 

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Tracy Samilton covers energy and transportation, including the auto industry and the business response to climate change for Michigan Public. She began her career at Michigan Public as an intern, where she was promptly “bitten by the radio bug,” and never recovered.
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