Exelon Asks For Help To Keep Byron Plant Open [AUDIO]

Jim Anderson -- Illinois Radio Network

Exelon is asking state lawmakers for help in keeping three nuclear power plants open.

Exelon says its plants in Byron, Clinton and the Quad Cities are losing money. “The losses are caused more by faulty market mechanisms than anything else. These are correctable problems, and we’re hoping that the state will take the initiative and come up with some solutions for us,” says Exelon spokesman Craig Nesbit, who says other forms of carbon-free electricity get credit that nuclear does not get, and that should be adjusted.

Exelon does not have a specific proposal on the table.

But David Kraft of the Nuclear Energy Information Service doesn’t like how this is going. “Going before the legislature, saying give us a half a billion or we’re gonna pull 2,300 jobs out of the state sounds a lot like blackmail to us and it’s as bad way of doing business,” he said.

Kraft says these plants have produced billions in profits for Exelon and its predecessors over the decades, and a downturn now in wholesale electricity prices is no reason for lawmakers to prop up these facilities. Exelon has not allowed lawmakers or the public to examine the books of these plants.

Kraft says Exelon created this market, and should sink or swim in it.

The three plants employ 2,300 with an annual payroll of $193 million, pay $51 million in taxes to localities and the state and provide enough electricity for 4.2 million homes.