“You have to say enough is enough and curb the costs,” OPPD board member Tom Barrett said. “That’s the cold, hard facts of this business.”

The costs of nuclear generation put it at a disadvantage to wind and natural gas, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The EIA in June of last year reported the total costs per megawatt-hour for a new nuclear plant to be about $95. In comparison, the cheapest natural gas-fired generation is about $75 or less per megawatt-hour and wind generation is about $74 per megawatt-hour.

The average U.S. residential utility customer in 2014 used about 11,000 kilowatt-hours of energy.

Still, board Chairman Mick Mines said there’s no doubt that the recommendation would significantly affect the livelihood of plant employees. But the board has a responsibility to act in the best interest of ratepayers of the publicly owned utility, he said. “You can’t ignore the money,” Mines said.

If the board decides to close the plant, job losses would still be at least a year or two away because a nuclear plant can’t just be switched off. Ongoing licensing requirements and procedures mandated by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission mean a process of at least 18 months — and monitoring for longer — to power down the plant.