It appears market forces are about to do what even the nation’s worst nuclear accident couldn’t: permanently close the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.

Exelon Corp, owner of the nuclear facility located some 10 miles south of Harrisburg, has announced plans to shutter the plant in 2019 absent state subsidies.

That’s exactly what state subsidies should be in this case: absent. With natural gas and renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar providing less expensive alternatives, and state leaders already wrestling with a budget deficit estimated in the neighborhood of $3 billion, there is little argument to be made for propping up an energy source that is no longer competitive.

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