Anti-nuclear power activists are celebrating today's announcement that Vermont Yankee will close, with the decommissioning process beginning late next year.

But despite a legal battle with the state and nearly constant protests since it opened in 1972, the the plant's owner, Entergy, says activists can't take all the credit; costly regulations and an aging facility played a part in the shut-down decision.

"Natural gas has undergone a transformational shift in supply due to shale gas, and that's resulted in sustainable low natural gas prices, and also carries over into low wholesale energy prices," says Bill Mohl, a senior executive at Entergy.

You can read the company's statement on Vermont Yankee here.

WBUR's Sacha Pfeiffer spoke with Vermont's governor, a long-time opponent of the nuclear power plant, about its upcoming closure.

Peter Shumlin, governor of Vermont.