(AP) - The country's oldest nuclear power plant is in agreement to be sold to a company that plans to decommission it in the next eight years, decades earlier than required by industry protocols.

Exelon Generation announced Tuesday that Holtec International has agreed to purchase the Oyster Creek Generating Station in southern New Jersey.

Holtec was formed in New Jersey and now has its headquarters in Jupiter, Florida.

The company says it will contract with Camden, New Jersey-based Comprehensive Decommissioning International to decommission Oyster Creek within eight years, more than 50 years ahead of the industry-allowed 60-year timeline.

Oyster Creek is scheduled to shut down in September. It went online in December 1969.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must approve the sale before it is finalized.