Illinois Intends to Keep Nuclear Plants Open to Curb CO2 Emission

In September the Illinois Solons agreed to spend up to $694 million of energy raters over the next five years to keep some cash-losing nuclear power stations open.

 Nuclear plants do not emit ozone-damaging substances, which means they can reduce fossil fuel and carbon emissions. However, today's nuclear plants often cannot match the cost compared to the less expensive existing wells of energy, especially petroleum gas and government-sponsored renewable energy. The exchanges in Illinois are a microcosm of a larger discussion regarding the role existing nuclear power stations in the country should play in a future without energy.

Jack Darin, the director of the Sierra Club’s Illinois chapter has claimed if the nuclear plants would retire now, renewable energy would not be able to take its place. The most recent scrabble began in August 2020, when Exelon Generation reported that it would stop two of its Illinois nuclear energy stations in fall 2021. Byron was expected to shut in September 2021 and Dresden would shut in November 2021.