Amanda Oglesby reports for the Asbury Park Press:

LACEY — A Camden-based company specializing in nuclear and solar energy intends to purchase Oyster Creek Generating Station and decommission the plant in eight years, more than half a century earlier than previously planned.

The deal will transfer ownership of Oyster Creek to Camden-based Holtec International. The company will also take over the plant’s spent nuclear waste and its decommissioning trust fund, worth more than $890 million.

The deal is expected to be finalized sometime in 2019, but needs approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other regulators. The plant’s current parent company, Exelon, said the purchase will not impact current decommissioning activities. The plant is scheduled to stop generating electricity mid-September.

“This landmark agreement is good news for Oyster Creek employees, the Lacey community and the state of New Jersey,” Exelon chief’s nuclear officer Bryan Hanson said in a news release. “Holtec’s commitment to the nuclear industry and its presence in New Jersey will allow many of our employees previously facing relocation to continue living and working in the

Exelon’s original plan including storing the plant for more than a half-century to allow radiation levels to drop and its trust fund to accrue more money before taking down the plant.

Holtec’s ownership will speed up the process. The company intends to hire Comprehensive Decommissioning International (CDI), a joint venture company of Holtec and engineering and nuclear waste management firm SNC-Lavalin, to help decontaminate and decommission the plant. Terms of the sale agreement require CDI to offer jobs to current Oyster Creek decommissioning employee.

Holtec’s President and CEO Kris Singh said in a news release that the company will use the latest technologies to preserve the shore near the plant and minimize radiation exposure to workers.