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* Tribune…
After the Illinois Senate voted in the wee hours Wednesday to approve an energy policy overhaul that includes a nearly $700 million bailout for Exelon, parent of scandal-plagued Commonwealth Edison, the company gave lawmakers and Gov. J.B. Pritzker an ultimatum: finalize a deal in the next 12 days or face the permanent closure of one of the state’s six nuclear power plants. […]
“While we currently have no choice but to continue preparing for their premature retirement, we have established offramps that will allow us to reverse that decision if lawmakers pass legislation with enough time for us to safely refuel the plants,” Exelon spokesman Paul Adam said in a statement Wednesday. “To be clear, Byron will run out of fuel and will permanently shut down on Sept. 13 unless legislation is enacted.”
It’s not like filing up your tank with gas. Refueling a nuclear power plant is a complicated and involved process. They’ll need a bill passed well before the 13th, but I haven’t yet gotten a solid answer on what the actual drop-dead date is. Still checking.
…Adding… The full statement still doesn’t really give us an idea of an absolute deadline date…
*Less than 2 WKS* til @Exelon closes its Byron nuclear plant if lawmakers don't pass an energy bill including already-negotiated ~$700M ratepayer subsidy to keep 3 unprofitable nukes alive.
In the spirit of hopefulness, Exelon has taken steps to remain nimble for a last-min deal. pic.twitter.com/HL2w1RMcU6— Hannah Meisel (@hannahmeisel) September 1, 2021
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:08 pm
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You have to shut down a reactor to refuel anyway, so why would the shut down on the 13th be permanent?
Comment by drew Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:15 pm
So if we lose a couple of nukes and shut down all the coal-fired plants then will Illinois end up going out of state to buy power? will it be possible to buy your power from clean sources or will we be buying dirty power and paying more for it?
Comment by nieva Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:18 pm
They wouldn’t be buying any more fuel rods, and once it goes below a certain level, it becomes another burden for ratepayers and taxpayers, not shareholders.
Comment by VerySmallRocks Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:20 pm
You have to shut down a reactor to refuel anyway, so why would the shut down on the 13th be permanent?
On one side of the coin you have politicians who can’t come to agreement, on the other side it’s very complicated science and engineering. The political part should be easier to fix.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:33 pm
Don’t tease us, shut it down.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:51 pm
Byron is a 24/7 source of CO2-free power for Illinois and to me it is a no-brainer to keep it open. If it makes sense to subsidize sustainable energy then nuclear has to be part of the mix. It’s there at night when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine and all those electric cars in garages around the state want to get charged.
Comment by Old Illini Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:53 pm
“So if we lose a couple of nukes and shut down all the coal-fired plants then will Illinois end up going out of state to buy power? will it be possible to buy your power from clean sources or will we be buying dirty power and paying more for it?”
Power needed will be supplied by fossil fuel plants in nearby states, mostly coal. Doing nothing will result in a massive increase in carbon emissions.
Comment by Southern Skeptic Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:53 pm
“Don’t tease us, shut it down.”
So you’re good with replacing the nukes with power from coal plants? How does that help?
Comment by Southern Skeptic Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:55 pm
Furring a refuel not all of the fuel rods are removed. There is very little energy in old fuel rods. They are still used but they don’t produce enough energy to generate enough heat. Fresh fuel is put in every 18 months to keep optimal heat. On the 13th ALL fuel rods will be removed instead of the oldest fuel rods.
If more clarification is needed just ask.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:57 pm
Call their bluff.
===So you’re good with replacing the nukes with power from coal plants? How does that help? ===
For a person with skeptic in their nickname it sure seems like you’re putting a lot of trust in a for profit company to accurately represent itself while rent seeking and demanding government action to bolster their profits.
Especially for an entity that seems to have been actively engaged in public corruption not too long ago.
Comment by Candy Dogood Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 6:38 pm
It was never Barzini…it was always Exelon. From the beginning…
Comment by Lincoln Lad Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 7:06 pm
=== If more clarification is needed just ask.===
Can you clarify how removing all of the fuel rods will impact the sale of this plant to SpinCo?
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 7:46 pm
Cool, shut it down. We have actual green energy now.
Comment by Anon E Moose Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 7:59 pm
@Anon E Moose Look at the actual emissions of the Illinois grid before cheering for a shutdown of zero-carbon electricity.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 8:07 pm
@Anon E Moose Look at the actual emissions of the Illinois grid before cheering for a shutdown of zero-carbon electricity.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 8:07 pm
=So you’re good with replacing the nukes with power from coal plants? How does that help?=
So you’re good with being held hostage and shaken down every few years? How does that help?
I am tired of it. Excelon can’t run these plants efficiently and I am tired of the massive rate hikes and taxpayer supported bonuses for their shareholders and executives.
Who says the power we buy does not come from other sources? I mean beside Chapin Rose who is another hypocrite that wants to provide welfare to corporations but votes against helping people, almost like he is on Excelon’s payroll.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 8:11 pm
The nuclear plants are not being sold. The company is splitting.
https://www.exeloncorp.com/separationfacts
For simplicity let’s say there are 50 fuel rods in a reactor.
In a refuel they remove the 10 oldest (weakest) and replace them with new ones.
A de fuel they remove all 50. Disable the reactor and relinquish the license to operate the reactor.
Two completely different operations.
Comment by Nick Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 8:44 pm
@- Southern Skeptic - Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 5:55 pm:
“Don’t tease us, shut it down.”
===So you’re good with replacing the nukes with power from coal plants? How does that help?===
Some studies say the cost of wind and solar with battery storage is already lower then nukes and coal. They say it is cheaper to build and operate wind and solar with battery storage the just to operate an existing nuke or existing coal plant. The fact that Exelon/Comed say they need hundreds of millions extra for the nukes makes that point. This should be a one time, last time deal to bail out the nukes.
Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 8:54 pm
47th ward- it won’t. And they remove all fuel from the core every outage, with roughly a third being replaced with new. Only this time they’re not putting it back in the core, it will just sit.
Also for clarification, the plant is not being sold to anyone. Exelon generation is “spinning off” from exelon to form its own, independent company not owned by Exelon. Not sure if that helps
Comment by Pat Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 9:38 pm
E moose- I can only assume that’s sarcasm. Not nearly enough “real green energy” in the state or Midwest even to meet the energy based demands. Let alone peak demand. Not even close.
Comment by Pat Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 9:40 pm
Not to mention the $38 million it pays in property taxes.
Comment by sladay Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 10:02 pm
====Not to mention the $38 million it pays in property taxes.====
Good point. At a minimum you are talking about bonding out a billion (if not two at today’s interest rates). I am not sure what is left on the debt of the muni plants but there is leverage somewhere with the money that will be lost if those plants go down.
Comment by Been There Wednesday, Sep 1, 21 @ 11:35 pm
Nuclear engineer here. This is purely bluffs by Exelon. A plant can go into a nice cold shutdown and be there for years, and you can easily throw fuel back in and get it going again. There is no hard deadline being advertised because there is no hard deadline in reality. For it to be a hard deadline Exelon would have to have workers ready on a date to start ripping out equipment, which the are absolutely not going to do. I guarantee if September comes and goes without legislation, they will shut it down, but the instant they get the money from someone, they will magically have all the things they need to get it going again.
Comment by NukeEngineer Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 10:14 am
Why should we bend to this extortion? We can use eminent domain and take the plants over and run them ourselves like Nebraska did. Since we get stuck paying anyway.
Comment by Muddy trail Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 11:44 am
=== We can use eminent domain and take the plants over ===
lol
Not that simple.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 12:01 pm
Nuclear power should definitely be in our future energy plans, but I see little value in keeping decades old plants run by a corrupt corporation in service. If we are going to invest in nuclear, we need to put the money in more modern facilities which are run by better companies.
Comment by Nick Nombre Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 1:29 pm
AMEN to NUC Engineer. Folks: the jobs at those Nuc plants are not going to go away overnight. Given the ongoing CommEd-Exelon story, why do you give any credence to anything they say?
On the other hand, if you follow Nick’s plan: 15 years, minimum, before you would see the 1st MW-Hr from a new Nuc.
Comment by joe Thursday, Sep 2, 21 @ 4:34 pm
You can now buy 450w solar panels at $300 each and produce almost the same amount of energy.
Comment by downstate dem Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 6:49 am
=== We can use eminent domain and take the plants over.===
Lol. Simple solutions are neither, Einstein.
Oh sure Nebraskans did it but that’s because they’re Gods or warlocks or something over there.
Comment by Fly like an eagle Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 8:28 am
===Nebraskans===
You’re in Illinois.
Each state… different.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 8:35 am