BYRON (WREX) – Exelon says it will retire its Byron nuclear power plant by 2021, which has been in operation for more than 30 years.
Byron’s plant will close in September 2021, with Exelon citing revenue shortfalls due to falling energy prices.
“While we know in our heads that closing down the uneconomic Illinois plant is necessary to maintain even more jobs elsewhere, today we grieve for the thousands of talented women and men who have been families of Illinois for more than a generation. have served and will lose their jobs due to ill-considered energy policies, “said Christopher Crane, President and CEO of Exelon.” But we are only about a year away from shutdown and we need to give our people, the host communities and regulators time to deal with them. advice. “
The announcement was made Thursday morning in a news release, saying that Exelon has been forced to close the iconic twin cooling towers that supply carbon-free electricity to more than 2 million homes and employ hundreds of people in the region.
Rumors of a closure have been circulating for years, most recently in February of 2019. In a report published by Exelon, the company says plants are “economically challenged because of market failures that do not have zero carbon power.” According to the report and 13 WREX archives, Exelon said the plant could close by 2022.
At the time, however, Exelon officials said they would work with lawmakers in Springfield in hopes of subsidizing the plant. This time, Exelon officials say they will continue a dialogue.
“We recognize that this is coming as many of our communities are still recovering from the pandemic’s economic and public health effects, and we will continue our dialogue with policymakers on ways to prevent these closures,” Crane said. “Therefore, we have opened our books to policymakers and will continue to do so for any legislator who wants to judge the profitability of the plants.”
“We agree with Governor Pritzker that policy reform is urgently needed to address the climate crisis and promote Illinois’ ‘clean energy economy,’ and we support the goals of the governor’s recent energy principles,” Crane added. ta. “That’s apart from today’s announcement to withdraw these two zero – carbon nuclear power plants, which was not an easy decision and is one that has been in operation for some time.”
According to Exelon, the plant employs 727 people with an annual payroll of $ 82.5 million.
The plant not only employs more than 700 people throughout the region with high-paying, stable jobs, it is also one of the largest tax bodies in the country. According to a 2018 report, Byron’s nuclear power plant in 2017 was estimated at $ 36.5 million in property taxes. That’s higher than all but 20 properties in the nation, just ahead of Disneyland in California.
The plant also donates millions of dollars each year to community partners, including the Byron Fire Protection District, the Byron and Oregon Chambers of Commerce, and is a benefactor to local events, including ByronFest, Leaf River Daze, Oregon’s Autumn on Parade and the Stillman Valley Fall. Festival.
Construction on the plant began in 1975. Unit 1 entered commercial service on September 16, 1985, while the twin unit 2 entered service on August 2, 1987.
The licenses for both units expire in 2044 and 2046, respectively. In February, the plant spent 4,500 consecutive days producing carbon-free energy to Illinois, while also marking 45 years on the site. Employees celebrated with cake that was an edible replica of the plant.
In the days and weeks ahead, Exelon Generation will submit a deactivation report to PJM, informing key stakeholders and regulators about the pensions. In addition, the company will:
- Make official shutdown notifications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission within 30 days;
- Terminate capital investment projects required for long-term operation; en
- Scale back the outage of thanksgiving that was planned for this fall. The move will result in spending reductions of $ 50 million and the cancellation of up to 1,400 of the more than 2,000 most union jobs typically associated with the two tank breaks.
Exelon also announced that it would retire its plant in Dresden, Morris, Ill., In November 2021.
13 WREX will be working all day to cover this story. We will update this article as more information becomes available, and we have extensive coverage on 13 News on 5 and 6.
