nuclear-news

But now those plants are getting old. Like any piece of complex equipment, the older a nuclear station gets, the more it costs to operate and maintain. Exelon Corp., the multistate holding company based in Chicago that owns 23 reactors among its operations around the country, has announced plans to close three reactors at two sites in Illinois. Unless, of course, the state would like to bail it out.

Here’s a $34.5 billion company that earned $2.2 billion last year, operating monopoly utilities, that for two straight years tried to convince Illinois lawmakers to cover its losses. Exelon wanted permission to pass on an estimated $170 million in costs to taxpayers and ratepayers in each of the next six years. The idea’s not dead, but it’s on life support.

The Legislature and Gov. Bruce Rauner, a year into their staring match over the state’s budget crisis, are too busy to entertain Exelon’s request. The Republican governor generally supports it. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan calls it a bailout and opposes it. But it’s not like the state has a spare $170 million in its budget. If it had a budget.

with a worldwide energy glut caused in large part by abundant supplies of natural gas, and alternative energy getting cheaper, nuclear plants can’t compete.

Absent technological breakthroughs, the “nuclear miracle” is on ice. Bailing out Exelon would save those plants and their jobs for just a few more years. Even if Illinois had the money, the numbers just aren’t there to justify a long-term investment.http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-in-illinois-the-nuclear-age-comes-creaking-to-a/article_b8011ab3-baca-5e9b-870d-a3c8b9ec1350.html