This
is not a Wisconsin story, but in light of the current debate in Wisconsin over expansion of nuclear energy, I think it's worth discussing. Although the Vermont Yankee power plant in Vermont has been poised for a license renewal, the Vermont Senate today decided that they had had enough, and voted to close the plant down in 2012. Those of you who follow these things will now ask "How the heck can that be? -- The state has no power over this". Normally true, but when Entergy purchased the plant, they agreed to let the state renew the state license for the plant at the time that the Federal license came up for renewal.Thus Vermont Yankee will soon be the first nuclear plant shut down by local government since Rancho Seco in 1989 (and that was simply because the plant had become too expensive to operate).
The Vermont Yankee plant has been troubled in recent years, having had a cooling tower collapse in 2007 (pictured here), and there have been recent disclosurs that the 38 year old plant has been leaking radioactive tritium. Entergy and the state legislature have been embroiled in controversy over the tritium leak, since Entergy claimed the plant had not underground pipes capable of leaking tritium, a claim which later turned out to be false.
Although Entergy may consider filing suit to fight the shutdown, it seems unlikely that they will succeed in the unique legal circumstances of this particular plant.