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Nuclear Age
The Oyster Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey opened when the Beatles were still together, and since 1969 its single 645-MW boiling-water reactor has provided enough energy to power 600,000 homes annually. But the oldest nuclear plant in the U.S. will be retired a little
(26) Last year its owner, Exelon, announced that it would
(27) Oyster Creek in 2019, 10 years ahead of schedule. The reason: the
(28) plant costs too much to keep running
(29) .
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has focused new attention on the
(30) future of the American atomic sector. But the U.S. nuclear industry was already facing a very
(31) problem: its aging fleet of reactors. Nuclear plants were built with 40-year licenses that can theoretically be
(32) to 60 or even 80 years. Half the country’s 104 reactors are more than 30 years old and
(33) middle age. So far, 62 plants