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 ($10.9 billion today), nearly 1,000% over the original budget of $430 million and seven years behind schedule.[1]

Clinton Power Station
Clinton Power Station
CountryUnited States
LocationHarp Township, DeWitt County, near Clinton, Illinois
Coordinates40°10′20″N 88°50′6″W
StatusOperational
Construction beganOctober 1, 1975 (1975-10-01)
Commission dateNovember 24, 1987
Construction cost$4.25 billion
Owner(s)Constellation Energy
Operator(s)Constellation Energy
Nuclear power station
Reactor typeBWR
Reactor supplierGeneral Electric
Cooling sourceClinton Lake[lower-alpha 1]
Thermal capacity1 × 3473 MWth
Power generation
Units operational1 × 1138 MW
Make and modelBWR-6 (Mark 3)
Units cancelled1 × 933 MW
Nameplate capacity1138 MW
Capacity factor89.84% (2017)
78.50% (lifetime)
Annual net output8358 GWh (2017)
External links
WebsiteClinton Power Station
CommonsRelated media on Commons

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.[2] 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' CO2-free electricity. The consequences of continued operation include saving 4,200 jobs and the annual generation of 22 billion kWhs of CO2-free energy.[3]

The surrounding 14,300 acres (58 km2) site and adjacent 5,000 acres (20 km2) 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 150 acres (0.6 km2) are actually used by the plant's buildings and operation areas.[4][5]

Electricity Production
Generation (MWh) of Clinton Power Station[6]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual (Total)
2001 693,528 557,943 692,222 670,968 620,829 665,724 639,211 680,796 661,884 691,962 669,337 634,560 7,878,964
2002 686,395 622,523 681,258 10,524 458,081 734,215 709,581 765,868 729,480 760,914 736,406 762,212 7,657,457
2003 756,222 686,721 762,014 666,612 758,477 749,390 774,100 773,936 731,688 717,533 725,407 596,889 8,698,989
2004 660,840 64,713 679,850 748,191 607,147 756,957 636,993 782,402 753,763 782,140 758,516 782,457 8,013,969
2005 729,820 497,733 600,267 727,138 779,612 755,483 780,877 769,500 740,927 784,439 757,141 769,137 8,692,074
2006 711,706 16,769 605,509 768,766 791,504 769,539 793,326 718,172 765,464 795,853 770,550 725,149 8,232,307
2007 796,303 719,640 781,718 777,209 794,186 705,543 791,374 787,282 762,709 795,073 773,891 765,508 9,250,436
2008 250,571 545,163 800,267 775,024 798,451 770,414 794,643 794,021 767,565 798,612 775,841 679,331 8,549,903
2009 799,748 717,787 798,222 774,484 766,014 768,172 793,462 792,113 713,349 422,334 771,859 770,370 8,887,914
2010 229,792 507,337 800,980 776,268 796,741 769,311 791,383 790,533 769,119 801,339 777,272 801,923 8,611,998
2011 802,964 720,850 802,765 763,633 793,708 763,581 767,884 784,185 759,589 794,197 731,878 186,232 8,671,466
2012 800,875 748,502 794,991 772,445 791,392 765,358 784,073 787,156 762,308 796,953 774,233 795,440 9,373,726
2013 798,204 693,478 722,847 666,502 788,048 763,789 784,181 781,022 755,895 152,499 721,206 567,877 8,195,548
2014 798,626 705,590 553,245 771,969 763,235 787,715 767,386 791,123 763,609 797,622 774,000 797,591 9,071,711
2015 666,063 722,716 795,311 644,815 322,799 771,162 797,145 793,930 766,668 800,523 778,391 804,314 8,663,837
2016 803,530 751,282 799,399 718,766 439,549 769,819 795,383 794,360 658,370 802,938 778,735 802,322 8,914,453
2017 805,837 727,742 801,261 746,024 166,378 614,941 742,963 795,048 750,871 797,275 775,132 624,864 8,348,336
2018 800,713 699,423 797,172 731,280 208,998 769,275 791,891 741,340 679,613 685,950 639,256 801,775 8,346,686
2019 780,176 723,735 803,490 780,927 780,345 771,775 792,713 651,768 377,261 315,412 782,823 802,864 8,363,289
2020 807,109 753,653 794,890 779,734 802,662 771,258 792,200 789,696 774,848 811,032 776,256 809,143 9,462,481
2021 759,598 731,141 758,892 777,328 799,985 767,358 793,577 783,906 625,754 8,809 739,897 802,461 8,348,706
2022 639,079 730,967 804,557 772,055 789,691 763,008 784,386 788,027 756,455 805,538 7,633,763
2023

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".[7] 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.[8][7]

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.[9] 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 the 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,[10] resulting in an increase of 193 MWe, the largest approved by the NRC until 2012.[11]

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 (NRU) 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."[12]

It was announced in September 2011 that GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Exelon commissioned a feasibility study into creating Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) at the reactor. Mo-99 decays to produce technetium-99m (Tc-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.[13]

Future plans

In September 2003, Exelon submitted an Early Site Permit to place a second reactor at the Clinton site — this was approved March 15, 2007.[14] The Early Site Permit does not actually grant any type of license to begin building a second reactor, although it offers the operator an avenue to begin the approval process leading to construction and operation of an additional power reactor at the site. According to the ESP, the new plant design will be of the AP1000 type, although the ESP does not state what gross wattage has been selected.

In June 2016, plans for the second reactor were shelved, and reactor 1 was to be shut down in June 2017. The plant was struggling to compete in wholesale electricity markets, resulting in a loss of millions of dollars in recent years.[2] Shutdown plans were cancelled with the passage of Illinois Senate Bill 2814.[15]

In December 2016, Illinois voted to subsidize Exelon with 1c/kWh or $235 million per year (depending on electricity rates) to keep Clinton and Quad Cities Nuclear Generating Station open for at least 10 years, as natural gas had decreased rates.[16][17][18]

In October 2022, Constellation announced they are seeking to extend Clinton's operating license to 2047.[19]

Surrounding population

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.[20]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Clinton was 14,677, a decrease of 0.4 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 813,658, an increase of 5.7 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Champaign, Decatur, Bloomington-Normal, as well as portions of Springfield, and the Peoria Metro Area.[21]

Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Clinton was 1 in 400,000, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[22][23]

Inspired by the nearby power station, Clinton radio station WHOW changed its motto to "WHOW, your radio active station" in April 1989.[24]

Inspired by the fact that Clinton Lake was created to provide cooling for the nuclear power station the Clinton Lake Sailing Association hosts a popular annual Midwestern regatta known as The Glow In The Dark Regatta. This regatta attracts sailboat racers from all over the country including Florida, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, and more. In 2018 there were 34 teams registered from 8 states.[25]

Notes
  1. Clinton Lake is an artificial lake fed by Salt Creek

References
  1. "Nuke Plant by the numbers". The Southeast Missourian. Associated Press. 28 July 1997.
  2. Dianne Cardwell Exelon to Close 2 Nuclear Plants in Illinois, June 2, 2016.
  3. "Illinois Sees The Light -- Retains Nuclear Power". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2022-11-28.
  4. "Clinton Lake State Recreation Area Site Map". Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
  5. Clinton, Unit 1 - CPS/USAR - Rev. 12, January 2007, p18, chapter 1.2.2.1.1
  6. "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  7. "Clinton Nuclear Plant to restart after shutdown". The Southeast Missourian. Associated Press. 28 July 1997.
  8. Crain's chicago business : For the record : September 07, 1998
  9. Crain's chicago business : For the record : February 15, 1999
  10. Clinton, Unit 1, Amendment No. 149, Power Uprate (Amendment Package)
  11. EIA : Uprates can increase U.S. nuclear capacity substantially without building new reactors
  12. "Clinton's cobalt campaign". Archived from the original on 2012-08-11. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
  13. "World Nuclear Association - World Nuclear News".
  14. "Issued Early Site Permit - Clinton Site". Early Site Permits. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). August 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  15. Quad City Times , Dec 8 2016.
  16. "Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SB2814". www.ilga.gov. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
  17. Conca, James (4 December 2016). "Illinois Sees The Light -- Retains Nuclear Power". Forbes. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  18. "Top Stories 2016: Last-minute deal saves Clinton nuclear plant". WJBC AM 1230. 29 December 2016. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  19. "Constellation to Seek License Extensions for Two of Its Zero-Carbon Nuclear Plants in Illinois".
  20. "NRC: Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Power Plants". Archived from the original on 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  21. Bill Dedman, Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors, NBC News, April 14, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42555888 Accessed May 1, 2011.
  22. Bill Dedman, What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk, NBC News, March 17, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42103936 Accessed April 19, 2011.
  23. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2011-04-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. "Ex-mayor's encore rebuffs Warhol". Bloomington Pantagraph. April 17, 1989. In Clinton, though, WHOW radio may have outdone them all. The station's new slogan is influenced by Illinois Power Co.'s nuclear plant just eight miles away. "WHOW," goes the motto. "Your radio active station."
  25. "Glow in the Dark Regatta at Clinton Lake". fssa.com. Flying Scot Sailing Association. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
AmerGen sign.

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