Last month, four utilities announced they would decommission five commercial nuclear reactors that were at least 40 years old, rather than apply for a restart that could extend their operating life another two decades.
The news was greeted with a mixture of relief and concern among residents of towns and villages that host the plants.
But it also raised broader political, economic, social and environmental questions about what decommissioning means for the reactor sites, for the utilities' primary customers and for whoever ends up paying for it all.