The utility company in charge of two financially-struggling nuclear power plants in Illinois is reversing course on its shutdown plans after a state bailout in September gave the reactors a new lease on life.
In Federal Register notices published Oct. 1, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Exelon’s withdrawal of license amendments that would have let the company prep the Byron and Dresden Nuclear Generating Stations for shutdown.
The proposed changes would have altered technical specifications and administrative procedures for the two Illinois nuclear plants as they closed down, the notice said. The amendments would also have updated emergency management plans for Byron and Dresden’s independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs), the on-or-near-site dry storage pads for spent nuclear fuel.
Byron and Dresden, which were slated to close in the fall, are getting a second wind thanks to a recent law signed Sep. 15 by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) doling out around $700 million in aid to the floundering nuclear plants — a move praised by both industry and the Joe Biden administration. Exelon said at the time that it would immediately begin refueling the plants.
The Biden administration has also proposed its own $6 billion or so in tax credits for nuclear plants as part of its trillion-dollar infrastructure plan that is currently the subject of fierce intra party-debate among Democrats in Congress.
While Exelon wipes the sweat from its brow over Byron and Dresden, nuclear plants across the country are still closing their doors at a rapid pace. Entergy’s Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan is next on the chopping block, in early 2022. Indian Point Energy Center in New York shut down in April.
