Genoa, Wisconsin: Dairyland Power Plans Small Modular Nuclear Reactors at Retired Nuclear Plant Site
Dairyland Power Cooperative announced on November 12 that it will work with New Orleans-based developer Applied Atomics to study building a new nuclear power station at the retired La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor site near the village of Genoa. It would be the first return of nuclear power to western Wisconsin in nearly 40 years. The old plant, rated at 50,000 kilowatts, operated from 1969 to 1987 as Wisconsin's first nuclear power station, and spent fuel is still stored on site; the same site also hosts a 345,000-kilowatt coal plant that closed in 2021.
The partners will evaluate building one or more small modular reactors totaling about 150,000 kilowatts, decide by the end of 2027 whether to proceed, and target operation as early as 2032. Dairyland is headquartered in La Crosse and supplies power to 24 member cooperatives and 27 municipal utilities across western Wisconsin and parts of Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. Wisconsin's electricity demand is expected to grow 40% by 2032, driven mainly by artificial intelligence data centers — an important force pushing nuclear power's return.
Source: Dairyland Power Cooperative
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：威斯康星州 Point Beach 核电站。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，Yodel2010 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0。 Image: Point Beach Nuclear Plant in Wisconsin. Source: Wikimedia Commons, photo by Yodel2010, CC BY-SA 4.0.
