Dresden & Byron Generating Stations Set To Close Next Year

Exelon Corporation announced on Thursday that it will be retiring the Dresden Generating Station located in Morris in the fall of 2021 even though it is licensed to operate for another decade. It’s believed that Will and Grundy Counties will lose approximately 825 jobs as a result of the closure. Exelon also announced they would be closing the Byron Plant. Both plants combined supply 30 percent of Illinois’ carbon-free energy and help the state to meet its goal to achieve 100 percent clean energy. In a statement to the media Exelon states that they ” face revenue shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars because of declining energy prices and market rules that allow fossil fuel plants to underbid clean resources.” The plant is scheduled to close by November of 2021.

Illinois State Senator Sue Rezin from the 38th district that includes, Grundy, Will and Kendall counties tells WJOL that unless we pass legislation all the nuclear power plants in Illinois will be in jeopardy of shutting down. The legislation needed would be to acknowledge that nuclear energy is clean energy in Illinois.  To hear the full interview click below.