Clinton Power Station


The Clinton Power Station is a nuclear power plant located near Clinton, Illinois, USA. The power station began commercial operation on November 24, 1987 and has a nominal net electric output of 1062 MWe. Due to inflation and cost overruns, Clinton's final construction cost was $4.25 billion, nearly 1,000% over the original budget of $430 million and seven years behind schedule.
The station has a single generation II General Electric Boiling Water Reactor. The present reactor operating license was issued April 17, 1987, and will expire September 29, 2026. Plans for a second reactor were shelved. Exelon, the former owner and operator of the present reactor, announced plans to permanently close the power station in June 2017, due to the plants struggles to compete economically in wholesale markets, resulting in a loss of millions of dollars in recent years. The plans for closure were canceled, however, when the Illinois State Legislature passed and the Illinois Governor signed SB 2814, The Future Energy Jobs Bill. The legislation provides Zero Emission Credits for the plants' -free electricity. The consequences of continued operation include saving 4,200 jobs and the annual generation of 22 billion kWhs of -free energy.
The surrounding site and adjacent cooling reservoir, Clinton Lake, is owned by the operator, but hosts the Clinton Lake State Recreation Area and is open to public for a large range of outdoor activities. Only around are actually used by the plant's buildings and operation areas.

Electricity production

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
2001693,528557,943692,222670,968620,829665,724639,211680,796661,884691,962669,337634,5607,878,964
2002686,395622,523681,25810,524458,081734,215709,581765,868729,480760,914736,406762,2127,657,457
2003756,222686,721762,014666,612758,477749,390774,100773,936731,688717,533725,407596,8898,698,989
2004660,84064,713679,850748,191607,147756,957636,993782,402753,763782,140758,516782,4578,013,969
2005729,820497,733600,267727,138779,612755,483780,877769,500740,927784,439757,141769,1378,692,074
2006711,70616,769605,509768,766791,504769,539793,326718,172765,464795,853770,550725,1498,232,307
2007796,303719,640781,718777,209794,186705,543791,374787,282762,709795,073773,891765,5089,250,436
2008250,571545,163800,267775,024798,451770,414794,643794,021767,565798,612775,841679,3318,549,903
2009799,748717,787798,222774,484766,014768,172793,462792,113713,349422,334771,859770,3708,887,914
2010229,792507,337800,980776,268796,741769,311791,383790,533769,119801,339777,272801,9238,611,998
2011802,964720,850802,765763,633793,708763,581767,884784,185759,589794,197731,878186,2328,671,466
2012800,875748,502794,991772,445791,392765,358784,073787,156762,308796,953774,233795,4409,373,726
2013798,204693,478722,847666,502788,048763,789784,181781,022755,895152,499721,206567,8778,195,548
2014798,626705,590553,245771,969763,235787,715767,386791,123763,609797,622774,000797,5919,071,711
2015666,063722,716795,311644,815322,799771,162797,145793,930766,668800,523778,391804,3148,663,837
2016803,530751,282799,399718,766439,549769,819795,383794,360658,370802,938778,735802,3228,914,453
2017805,837727,742801,261746,024166,378614,941742,963795,048750,871797,275775,132624,8648,348,336
2018800,713699,423797,172731,280208,998769,275791,891741,340679,613685,950639,256801,7758,346,686
2019780,176723,735803,490780,927780,345771,775792,713651,768377,261315,412782,823802,8648,363,289
2020807,109753,653794,890779,734802,662771,258792,200789,696774,848811,032776,256809,1439,462,481
2021759,598731,141758,892777,328799,985767,358793,577783,906625,7548,809739,897802,4618,348,706
2022639,079730,967804,557772,055789,691763,008784,386788,027756,455805,538782,147808,1129,223,022
2023801,403588,335806,281772,864409,189779,336805,762796,540239,727496,236791,248814,7078,401,628
2024815,580763,954809,602790,338809,776784,757808,820809,167766,851813,624786,569816,6399,575,677
2025815,751736,440814,207787,711805,038776,160791,137740,942151,402330,690776,094--

Transfer of ownership to Exelon

There were a number of problems during the first several years of operation. For example, the facility was down for maintenance frequently and was out of service for almost half of the time from September 1988 to October 1989. In 1997, it was also said to be producing "some of the highest electric rates in the midwest". After less than a decade of operation the plant's original owner, Illinois Power, had to close it in 1996 following some technical problems and safety violations resulting in a $450,000 fine.
Having deduced that it was not economical to own and operate only one nuclear generating station in the newly deregulated market, they kept it shut down during around 3 years whilst looking for an interested buyer. Exelon Corporation bought it for a more modest price of $40 million, with the purchase including the fuel in the reactor vessel and responsibility of all the radioactive waste in the spent fuel storage pool. The Operator and Owner is Constellation Energy following its spin-off from Exelon.
Soon after acquiring the power plant, Exelon made in 2001 a request to uprate its power by 20%, from 2894 MWt to 3473 MWt, resulting in an increase of 193 MWe, the largest approved by the NRC until 2012.

Production of medical radio-isotopes

In January 2010, GE-Hitachi announced that the station will begin producing cobalt-60. The technology is soon to be installed at the Clinton boiling water reactor during Clinton's planned maintenance and refueling outage in order to produce cobalt-60. The radioactive isotope is used for a variety of medical and industrial purposes including cancer therapy, sterilization of medical equipment, food irradiation and materials testing.
It is produced by inserting a 'target' rod rich in non-radioactive cobalt-59 into a reactor core where free neutrons will be captured, turning cobalt-59 into cobalt-60. After retrieval from the core, processing can extract the cobalt-60 for manufacture into a useful radiation source. The vast majority of the world's cobalt-60 supply - over 80% - has traditionally come from Canada's National Research Universal reactor at Chalk River. In general, the supply situation for medical and industrial isotopes is shaky thanks to a reliance on this kind of aging research reactor. Clinton will be the only light water reactor currently producing cobalt-60.
Exelon Nuclear president Charles Pardee said: "We view this as an opportunity for Exelon to support an important medical technology that saves people's lives."
It was announced in September 2011 that GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Exelon commissioned a feasibility study into creating Molybdenum-99 at the reactor. Mo-99 decays to produce technetium-99m that is used in around 50 million medical diagnostic imaging procedures every year. With a half-life of only six hours, Tc-99m is too short-lived to be transported to hospitals so is produced where it is needed in generators containing Mo-99. As Mo-99 itself has a half-life of only 66 hours, the world needs reliable, steady supplies of the isotope, most of which is made by irradiating uranium-235 targets inside a research reactor.
Most of the world's Mo-99 comes from only five research reactors: Canada's NRU, the Netherlands' HFR, Belgium's BR-2, France's Osiris and South Africa's Safari-1. Issues at some of the reactors in recent years have led to worldwide problems with the supply of this vital isotope.