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Oyster Creek Set To Close Earlier

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- Exelon Corp. says it will shut down the nation's oldest nuclear power plant on Dec. 31, 2019.

Company president Chris Crane told The Associated Press Thursday the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township will stay open until the very end of 2019, a timeframe it negotiated with New Jersey environmental officials.

Exelon, the nation's largest nuclear power operator, agreed to close the plant 10 years earlier than its license called for. In return, New Jersey environmental officials dropped their insistence that the plant build one or more cooling towers.

They would replace the current system in which 1.4 billion gallons of water a day is sucked through the plant and discharged back into Barnegat Bay.

(Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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