> Yes, the reactor was old but it should have been replaced with something new and safer, not tossed out altogether.

Sometimes we have a habit of viewing the past in better terms than it really was. Entergy Louisiana had absolutely no interest in keeping the plant running from the day it was acquired, and VY was not going to see any investment past the bare minimum. Remember the leaking pipes? They spot patched it to the minimum standards instead of replacing the whole system to cut costs. Ultimately it was a business decision, not a political one, to decommission a plant past its usable life.