“This is a power plant that lasted barely longer than a U.S. presidential term ..... which are naturally built to last for much longer.”
Plants are usually designed to last 25 years before being rebuilt and run another 25 years. Our local coal power plant went on line in 1977, and has been rebuilt to meet Obama standards, and is still running.
Other coal plants I know that went on line in 1975 have been shut down and destroyed.
This article advises it will take until 2015 to clean up the coal ash holding ponds on site with the great fear along the way of contaminating the Coosa River nearby. The cleaned up water will be released into the river. There is an untold kings ransom that went into the scrubbers, strippers and whatnot to make sure it adhered to the successive pollution edicts over the decades.