Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station

Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Station
Company type	Decommissioned nuclear power plant
Industry	Energy (Nuclear power generation)
Founded	1969
Defunct	2018
Fate	Permanently shut down and undergoing decommissioning
Headquarters	Lacey Township, Ocean County, United States
Products	Electricity generation (636 MWe capacity)
Owner	Exelon Corporation (at time of closure), later Holtec International (decommissioning)

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 7 August 2025

Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Station was a decommissioned single-unit boiling water reactor facility with a capacity of 636 MWe, situated on land adjacent to Oyster Creek within the Forked River area of Lacey Township, Ocean County, New Jersey. At the time of its closure, ownership belonged to Exelon Corporation. Alongside unit 1 at Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station, it was recognized as one of the longest-operating commercial nuclear power plants in the United States. The plant commenced commercial operations on December 23, 1969, and held a license valid until April 9, 2029; however, it ceased operations permanently in September 2018. The facility sourced its cooling water from Barnegat Bay, a brackish estuary that drains into the Atlantic Ocean.

Upon shutdown, Oyster Creek was among four licensed nuclear reactors operating within New Jersey, including two units at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant and one at Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station. By 2005, New Jersey ranked ninth nationally in nuclear generating capacity, with nuclear energy accounting for more than half of the state’s electricity production in 2003.

In 1999, ownership of Oyster Creek transferred from General Public Utilities to AmerGen Energy for $10 million. Later, AmerGen was acquired by Exelon in 2003, which fully assimilated AmerGen’s assets, including Oyster Creek, by early 2009.

The reactor halted operations on September 17, 2018. Subsequently, in September 2019, the Ocean Wind offshore wind project—proposing an 1,100 MWe capacity—received authorization to utilize Oyster Creek’s existing electrical infrastructure for power delivery after necessary upgrades to integrate with the regional transmission network.

In January 2021, Holtec announced plans to develop a "new generation" nuclear facility on the former Oyster Creek site.

Design

Oyster Creek operated as a single-unit boiling water reactor with an electrical output of 636 MWe from December 23, 1969, until its permanent shutdown on September 17, 2018. It ranked among the oldest nuclear power plants in the United States and was located approximately 50 miles east of Philadelphia and about 75 miles south of New York City.

The plant drew cooling water from Barnegat Bay, utilizing a Rankine cycle condenser cooling system that circulated roughly 1.4 billion US gallons daily, resulting in an average temperature increase of 10.4 °F.

Initially authorized for a 40-year operational period, Oyster Creek received a license renewal extending its operation by an additional 20 years from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in April 2009. This original licensing term was influenced more by economic and regulatory considerations than by technical constraints; however, some plant components were designed with a four-decade lifespan in mind.

License extension

In July 2005, Exelon submitted an application to the NRC seeking a two-decade extension of Oyster Creek’s operating license, which was scheduled to expire in 2009. A survey conducted in 2006 indicated that most local residents and officials supported relicensing efforts despite some opposition voiced during public hearings.

The Atomic Safety Licensing Board (ASLB) convened hearings in 2007 to address issues such as monitoring corrosion within the plant’s drywell liner. In both instances during 2008, the ASLB dismissed citizen petitions on grounds that they failed to meet procedural requirements or demonstrate significant safety concerns.

In May 2007, New Jersey's Attorney General petitioned the federal Third Circuit Court to compel the NRC to factor potential terrorist threats into its relicensing evaluation. Additionally, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) criticized reliance on outdated environmental assessments and withheld a required "positive consistency determination" under the Coastal Zone Management Act.

On April 8, 2009, after rejecting appeals from anti-nuclear organizations, the NRC approved a license extension allowing Oyster Creek to operate until April 9, 2029. Despite this decision, as of June 2009 five environmental and citizen groups continued legal challenges questioning whether the NRC had adequately ensured safe operation throughout the extended period.

Eric Leeds, director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation at the NRC, characterized this review process as the most comprehensive license renewal evaluation conducted to date. It involved detailed examination by NRC staff, advisory panels, and public stakeholders to confirm ongoing operational safety.

Closure and decommissioning

In December 2010, Exelon declared that Oyster Creek would cease operations in 2019, a full ten years ahead of the original schedule, to avoid the expense of installing cooling towers required by updated environmental regulations. However, in February 2018, the shutdown date was advanced further to October 2018. The reactor officially ceased operation on September 17, 2018, and the removal of nuclear fuel was completed by September 25, 2018.

Following the shutdown, decommissioning activities commenced. By July 2019, ownership of Oyster Creek transferred to Holtec International after receiving regulatory clearance. The decommissioning responsibilities were assumed by Comprehensive Decommissioning International, a partnership between Holtec and SNC-Lavalin. Approximately 200 former employees of Oyster Creek remained onsite to facilitate this transition phase.

Electricity Production

Annual Generation (MWh) at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total Annual Generation
2001	433,564	427,523	471,220	453,386	405,749	438,676	452,567	446,703	425,377	467,935	322,151	470,154	5,215,005
2002	473,737	422,619	471,484	432,791	455,302	441,178	446,911	439,116	426,571	94,125	453,863	473,574	5,031,271
2003	473,401	403,181	463,915	457,220	352,179	449,042	454,267	364,217	447,339	470,091	445,239	476,234	5,256,325
2004	468,817	441,925	470,564	433,876	378,355	413,985	444,850	447,543	287,988	462,856	122,953	483,600	4,857,312
2005	470,468	428,862	465,336	445,546	463,245	401,539	445,128	427,260	439,466	464,112	454,138	469,812	5,374,912
2006	393,315	335,565	464,659	451,483	365,940	439,082	441,405	424,983	413,071	185,896	261,532	467,645	4,644.576
2007	470.588	426.143	408.508	411.225	402.088	441.324	322.411	441.765	437.113	461.624	455.744	399.399	5.077.932
2008 ...

(Note: For brevity the table is abbreviated; comprehensive generation data is available in official records.)

Environment

Oyster Creek operated under the environmental policies established by its parent company Exelon Corporation.

In 2009 workers identified and contained two minor tritium leaks—tritium being a radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of approximately 12 years. An investigation by the NRC confirmed these leaks did not present any threat to public health. The leaks originated from two underground pipes that had insufficient insulation dating back to maintenance work in 1991. Later that year a second leak was discovered from a pipe feeding into an electrical turbine building; tritium concentrations there measured approximately 10 microcuries per liter—higher than the initial leak’s range of 5 to 6 microcuries per liter. Contaminated groundwater remained confined onsite without reaching community water sources.

In May 2010 the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reported that leaked water had migrated into a nearby aquifer but posed "no imminent danger" to public wells which could be impacted within an estimated 10 to 15 years if current migration continues. Potential remediation strategies include extracting contaminated water or injecting fresh water to reverse the flow direction. Representatives from Oyster Creek stated ongoing cooperation with state authorities and noted contamination levels have decreased by up to 90%. Compared to other radioactive elements such as strontium cesium and iodine tritium is considered less harmful since it does not bioaccumulate within human tissue.

Safety

Between 2005 and 2008, personnel at the Oyster Creek nuclear facility experienced lower levels of radiation exposure than employees at any other comparable nuclear plant in the United States.

In May 2011, General Electric, the supplier of nuclear fuel, informed operators at Oyster Creek and Nine Mile Point about errors in safety calculations that might have led to overheating of the nuclear fuel, thereby diminishing safety margins. These concerns were promptly addressed and rectified by plant operators.

Hurricane Sandy

On October 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy generated a storm surge of six and a half feet that flooded the intake structure of the plant; however, no physical damage was reported. At the time, the facility was offline for routine maintenance and experienced a loss of grid power, which triggered an escalation in emergency alert status and necessitated reliance on backup generators to sustain reactor cooling.

Although Nuclear Regulatory Commission official Gordon K. Hunegs assured that Oyster Creek remained secure throughout Hurricane Sandy’s impact, local community members maintained apprehensions in the subsequent months.

Seismic risk

According to a 2010 study by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the likelihood of an earthquake causing core damage at Oyster Creek was estimated at approximately one in 71,429 annually.

Surrounding population

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission establishes two emergency planning zones around nuclear plants: a 10-mile plume exposure pathway zone addressing airborne radioactive contamination risks and a 50-mile ingestion pathway zone concerned with radioactive contamination in food and water supplies.

As of 2010, the population residing within a 10-mile radius of Oyster Creek totaled 133,609—marking a 35.8% increase since 2000. Within 50 miles, the population reached 4,482,261, reflecting a growth of 10.4%. Cities located within this 50-mile radius include Atlantic City (30 miles), Toms River (10 miles), Lakewood (19 miles), Asbury Park (30 miles), and Cherry Hill (42 miles).

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