Exelon To Shut Down Two Illinois Nuclear Plants

Exelon Corp. said Thursday that it is shutting down two nuclear plants due to the lack of progress on the Next Generation Energy Plan. This Illinois energy legislation would provide $1 billion for low-income assistance, double energy efficiency programs, provide rebates and funding for solar projects, and reduce customer charges for energy delivery by half. The Clinton Power Station in Clinton, Ill. will close June 1, 2017 and the Quad Cities Generating Station in Cordova, Ill. will close June 1, 2018. The steps to close the plants include immediately taking one-time charges between $150 million and $200 million for 2016, cancelling fuel purchases and outage planning that impacts more than 1,000 workers, and ending capital investment projects that will impact more than 200 workers. The company said 1,500 employees run the two plants daily, with 4,200 workers impacted directly and indirectly. According to numbers provided from a state report, closing the plants would increase wholesale energy costs between $439 million and $645 million annually. Exelon shares are inactive in premarket trading, but up nearly 24% for the year to date. The S&P 500 is up 2.7% for the year so far.