Dominion Reaches Deal to Keep Millstone Nuclear Plant Open
Dominion Energy has reached an agreement with utilities in Connecticut to keep the Millstone Power Station, the state’s only nuclear power plant, in service for at least another decade.
Dominion announced the deal March 15, the deadline the company had to tell ISO New England, the regional grid operator, whether it would retire the two reactors at the 2,088-MW plant.
The Millstone station produces about half the electricity in Connecticut. Analysts have said it also accounts for 98% of the state’s carbon-free power, and its operation is seen as key for the state to meet its carbon reduction goals.
“This is a huge win for Connecticut, the region, and our colleagues at Millstone,” Paul Koonce, president and chief executive of Dominion’s Power Generation Group, said in a statement. “Not only does this preserve the vast majority of Connecticut’s carbon-free electricity, it preserves good jobs for the 1,500 women and men who work at Millstone and keeps 4,000 other residents employed.”
Dominion, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, has for years said that the Millstone station is no longer economic to operate.…