NorthStar closes on Vallecitos D&D agreement

GEH and NorthStar announced in May 2023 their intention to transfer ownership of the 1,600-acre Vallecitos site, located about 40 miles east of San Francisco in Sunol, Calif. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the transfer in April 2024.

The center was home to the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (VBWR), which operated from 1957 until 1963 and was the first commercially owned nuclear plant to supply power to the general public. Several other test reactors, laboratories, and hot cell facilities are located on the site, and from 1965 through 1975 Vallecitos was used to conduct research work for the Atomic Energy Commission’s Nuclear Energy Program and the civilian nuclear power industry.

The deal: The deal structure, through which NorthStar becomes the NRC-licensed owner of the research reactor complex, is modeled on NorthStar’s 2018 acquisition of the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt. According to NorthStar, the decommissioning of Vermont Yankee is currently ahead of schedule for on-budget completion by 2026.

Since the deal was first announced in 2023, NorthStar has been active on the Vallecitos site continuing work begun by GEH, which included partial decommissioning work on the VBWR as well as on the site’s GE Test Reactor and the ESADA Vallecitos Experimental Superheat Reactor.

In November 2023, NorthStar completed the removal of the VBWR from the center and shipped it for disposal to the facility operated by NorthStar affiliate Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas. As with its other ongoing nuclear decommissioning projects, NorthStar will dispose of additional low-level radioactive waste from the Vallecitos decommissioning at the WCS facility.

NorthStar has agreed to restore the Vallecitos Nuclear Center to conditions suitable for productive reuse for other commercial or industrial purposes.

NorthStar, through its Accelerated Decommissioning Partners joint venture, is also actively decommissioning Florida’s Crystal River Unit 3 under a contract with Duke Energy, following NRC and state regulatory approval in 2020.

Quote: “Our team has developed deep experience in the safe and efficient decontamination, decommissioning, and restoration of former nuclear reactor sites across the country, including the successful implementation of NRC license termination plans at five other research reactor sites nationwide,” said Scott State, CEO of NorthStar. “We appreciate GEH’s recognition of our expertise and the trust in our abilities this deal represents.”