Constellation Seeks License Renewal of Clinton Clean Energy Center for Additional 20 Years
February 15 2024 - 1:00PM
Business Wire
License renewal would enable Central Illinois
nuclear plant to generate enough carbon-free electricity to power
the equivalent of 800,000 homes through 2047
Constellation, the nation’s largest producer of carbon-free
energy, has filed a license renewal application with the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its Clinton Clean Energy Center in
Clinton, Ill., marking the latest in a series of investments the
company is making to help address the climate crisis and support
the regional economy. The filing begins a comprehensive review by
the NRC to renew the station’s license, which would allow it to
continue providing carbon-free energy to the region for another 20
years with adequate market or policy support. Clinton, which
produces enough baseload, carbon-free electricity to power the
equivalent of 800,000 homes, is currently licensed to operate
through April of 2027. Illinois would need to site more than 1,000
new wind turbines to generate the same amount of electricity that
Clinton will be able to provide under an extended license.
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Constellation has filed a license renewal
application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its Clinton
Clean Energy Center in Clinton, Ill. The plant produces enough
baseload, carbon-free electricity to power the equivalent of
800,000 homes. (Photo: Business Wire)
“Our nation desperately needs more new, clean, firm megawatts to
power our homes, businesses, and new technologies to improve our
everyday lives. This facility has operated 24/7 during the most
extreme summer and winter weather to hit the Midwest in a
generation, and we are doing everything possible to ensure it has
the opportunity to continue to operate for another 20 years,” said
Joe Dominguez, president and CEO of Constellation. “Sustained
investment in our nation’s nuclear power plants, which provide
about half of all the clean energy on the grid and are the most
reliable source of energy, is essential. We look forward to
continuing to contribute to Illinois’ clean energy future and
serving as an economic engine for the local community for as long
as market or policy support remains in place."
Polling in the U.S. and globally shows that public support for
maintaining and expanding the use of nuclear energy has increased
in recent years as concerns about climate change and energy
reliability have grown. Nuclear energy plants are the only
carbon-free energy resources that can operate 24/7 in all weather
conditions. Constellation’s clean energy centers not only help to
power the grid with reliable, clean energy, but they can also play
a key role in helping to reduce emissions in
difficult-to-decarbonize industries that account for as much as
quarter of all the world’s carbon pollution.
The continued operation of Clinton has been enabled by state
legislation enacted in 2016 recognizing the unique environmental,
economic and reliability benefits of nuclear energy. Enactment of
the federal nuclear production tax credit in 2022 extended policy
support through 2032. Renewing the NRC license for Clinton will
give Constellation the ability to keep this plant operating through
2047, although future policy and market conditions will ultimately
determine how long the plant operates.
Renewing the license of Clinton would provide the State of
Illinois an estimated 179 terawatt hours of additional carbon-free
electricity over the 20-year extended lifespan of the license. This
is more clean energy than all of Illinois’ wind and solar
facilities have produced to date. The Clinton site employs 532
employees and is DeWitt County’s largest employer. The facility’s
workforce more than doubles during its scheduled refueling and
maintenance outages, helping increase worker payrolls and improve
the bottom lines of local businesses.
“The Clinton Clean Energy Center is not only the largest
carbon-free electricity source in Central Illinois, but it also
provides a major boost to the economy,” said Dan Matthews,
president of the Clinton School District Board and a member of the
DeWitt County Board. “The more than $13 million in annual property
taxes supports education and county services, and the large number
of employees live here and spend money, which supports local
business and creates additional jobs. The plant’s relicensing is an
important part of DeWitt County’s economic future.”
The Clinton license renewal application is the latest in a
series of investments to accelerate clean-energy growth initiatives
across the company. In 2023, Constellation announced the
acquisition of a 44 percent ownership stake in the South Texas
Project nuclear plant, an $800 million uprate project at the
Braidwood and Byron clean energy centers in Illinois, and a $350
million uprate of its Criterion Wind Project in Maryland. Later
this year the company is scheduled to file a second license renewal
for its two-unit Dresden Clean Energy Center in Morris, Ill.
About Constellation
A Fortune 200 company headquartered in Baltimore, Constellation
Energy Corporation (Nasdaq: CEG) is the nation’s largest producer
of clean, carbon-free energy and a leading supplier of energy
products and services to businesses, homes, community aggregations
and public sector customers across the continental United States,
including three fourths of Fortune 100 companies. With annual
output that is nearly 90% carbon-free, our hydro, wind and solar
facilities paired with the nation’s largest nuclear fleet have the
generating capacity to power the equivalent of 16 million homes,
providing about 10% of the nation’s clean energy. We are further
accelerating the nation’s transition to a carbon-free future by
helping our customers reach their sustainability goals, setting our
own ambitious goal of achieving 100% carbon-free generation by
2040, and by investing in promising emerging technologies to
eliminate carbon emissions across all sectors of the economy.
Follow Constellation on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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Brett Nauman Constellation Communications 309-433-6894
brett.nauman@constellation.com
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