NJ sets ambitious goals for wind and solar power production

The relicensing last week of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, the nation's oldest nuclear power plant, guarantees that nuclear energy is here to stay in New Jersey, for at least a few more decades, even as state officials continue to push alternative sources of energy.

The Garden State draws about 53 percent of its electricity from four nuclear plants -- a reliance on nuclear energy far above the national average of about 20 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Along with Oyster Creek in Lacey Township, which was cleared by federal regulators for a new license on Thursday to operate another 20 years, the state's electricity flows from the Hope Creek and the twin Salem Creek reactors in Salem County.