CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. — Duke Energy says it will take 60 years to fully close the shuttered Crystal River power plant.
Company officials said Tuesday Duke Energy will retain about 275 employees on site, in addition to security personnel.
Duke expects the current decommissioning fund that customers already have paid into, along with the fund's growth and contributions from the nuclear facility's other owners will cover the total cost.
The plant's used nuclear fuel will remain in the existing on-site fuel pool until a new, dry-cask storage facility is built on-site.
The NRC said a public hearing will be held early in 2014 in Citrus County to discuss the plan.
The reactor opened in 1977. It went offline in late 2009 when its concrete containment building cracked during a maintenance and upgrade project.
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