CLINTON, Ill. (May 16, 2016) — Clinton Power Station began its scheduled refueling outage this morning after a year of providing the region with reliable, carbon-free electricity. While the local economy will see a boost from nearly 200 extra workers in town, local officials and business owners worry this might be the plant’s final refueling outage.
Exelon announced on May 6 that it will retire Clinton Station on June 1, 2017 if adequate legislation is not passed that properly values nuclear power for its economic, environmental and reliability benefits during the spring Illinois legislative session scheduled to end May 31.
“I’ve lived in Clinton my entire life and the nuclear power plant has been great for the community from day one,” said Richard Douglas, owner of the Sunset Inn Hotel in Clinton. “I hope Illinois lawmakers figure out a solution to keep the plant open. The outages have always been good for my business. I’m looking forward to this year’s outage because my revenue is down this year and the outage always gives my hotel a nice boost.”
Marian Brisard, executive director of the Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce, says extra workers in town for Clinton Station’s refueling outages typically provide additional traffic and revenue for many local merchants.
“The workers stay at nearby hotels, eat at our local restaurants, gas up their vehicles and spend money at many local businesses,” Brisard said. “The outages provide a big benefit for the community. We know the plant has been in an economic squeeze. We need our leaders in Springfield to pass legislation to keep the plant operating. It’s vitally important not only our local economy, but for the entire state of Illinois.”
The 200 additional workers, which is a smaller contingent than usual due to the limited scope of this refueling, will join the 700 permanent Clinton Station employees in refueling the unit and performing hundreds of inspections and maintenance activities. Much of the work completed in the outage cannot be done while the plant is operating. All of the activities are designed to assure the unit’s safe and reliable operation when online.
Clinton Station pumps more than $480 million annually into the Illinois economy while providing nearly 1,900 direct and secondary jobs, according to a state report on the impact of closing economically challenged nuclear power plants.
To learn more about the plant’s economic challenges visit www.NuclearPowersIllinois.com. To learn more about the proposed legislation visit www.NextGenerationEnergyPlan.com. Join us on Twitter and You Tube.
Clinton Power Station is located approximately six miles east of Clinton. The plant produces 1,069 megawatts at full power - enough electricity to power about one million typical homes.
