SUNOL >> A vast East Bay property where a nuclear power plant had operated for decades was purchased recently with plans to send some radioactive waste from the site to Texas.

An affiliate of Northstar Group Services paid $7 million for the GEH Vallecitos Nuclear Center near Sunol and Pleasanton, according to documents filed March 14 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, which had owned the property through an affiliate, disclosed in 2023 that it had struck a preliminary deal to sell the site to NorthStar Group Services for the purpose of “nuclear decontamination, decommissioning and environmental site restoration.”

The timeline to complete the remediation wasn’t immediately clear in the wake of the property purchase.

New York City-based NorthStar specializes in the field of environmental remediation and nuclear and factory decommissioning endeavors. It generates more than $700 million in annual revenue, according to the company.

The deal structure enables NorthStar to become the Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed owner of the East Bay nuclear research reactor complex.

“Our team has developed deep experience in the safe and efficient decontamination, decommissioning, and restoration of former nuclear reactor sites across the country,” said Northstar CEO Scott State.

The Vallecitos Nuclear Center deal is modeled along the lines of NorthStar’s acquisition of the former Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vermont, which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state regulators approved in 2018.

In 2023, NorthStarremoved the boiling water reactor from the Vallecitos Nuclear Center and shipped it for safe disposal at a facility operated by NorthStar affiliate Waste Control Specialists in Texas.

“As with its other ongoing nuclear decommissioning projects, NorthStar will dispose of additional low-level radioactive waste from the Vallecitos decommissioning at the (Texas) facility,” NorthStar stated.