Kewaunee County is hopeful that the site of the Kewaunee nuclear power plant can once again become a massive economic fixture in the community.
The site is in consideration to supply a different type of energy.
It’s been more than a decade since the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant shuttered its doors. As decommissioning of the site remains underway, some new life could potentially come to that location.
The Kewaunee Power Station sits on the shores of Lake Michigan in the town of Carlton, between Kewaunee and Two Rivers. It first began operations in 1974 and the plant was formally closed in May 2013.
Back in December, EnergySolutions, which owns the site, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with another energy company, Terrestrial Energy, to collaborate on building Integral Molten Salt Reactor plants.
The International Atomic Energy Agency describes said plants as nuclear fission reactors where the fuel and/or coolant is a molten salt. That molten salt liquifies at elevated temperatures and can store large amounts of thermal energy at atmospheric pressure.
EnergySolutions tells FOX 11 the Kewaunee plant is in consideration for one of these plants, but no decision has yet been finalized.
“Just installing one of these reactors at that site would provide over 300 construction jobs during buildout and over 100 permanent high-skilled positions afterward,” said Ben Nelson, executive director of the Kewaunee County Economic Development Corporation, during Tuesday’s Kewaunee County board meeting.
The type of energy created at such a site could help power things like data centers.
“Not saying that that’s what’s going there, we’re not at that phase yet,” said Nelson at the county board meeting.
Nelson told FOX 11 Thursday there hasn’t been any direct communication with a company looking for data center placement, but they’re exploring opportunities. Both the reactor and possible data center have the potential to have an annual economic impact of $87 million on the area.
Nelson says a data center, along with a new molten salt reactor, could potentially create upwards of 2,000 jobs during construction. He estimates 400 to 600 operational jobs could be created after construction.
Former Kewaunee mayor and current business owner Jason Jelinek calls these ideas encouraging.
“I think that it would be good to help hold families within the community,” said Jelinek. “Some of that infrastructure is already in place, so to me, it makes complete sense.”
Source: Fox 11 News
