Will County
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces ele ...
serves Chicago and northern Illinois with electricity. The plant was originally built by
Commonwealth Edison
Commonwealth Edison, commonly known by syllabic abbreviation as ComEd, is the largest electric utility in Illinois, and the in Chicago and much of Northern Illinois. Its service territory stretches roughly from Iroquois County on the south ...
company, and subsequently transferred to Com Ed's parent company, Exelon Corporation. Following Exelon's spin-off of their Generation company, the station was transferred to Constellation Energy.
This station has two Westinghouse
pressurized water reactor
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) is ...
s. Unit #1 came online in July 1987. Unit #2 came online in May 1988. The units were licensed by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began oper ...
to operate until 2026 and 2027, then granted extended licenses until 2046 and 2047. Each unit has received two power uprates during their lifetime, the first in May 2001 for 175.6 MWt and the second in February 2014 for 58.4 MWt.
The power uprates at Braidwood granted in 2001 make it the largest nuclear plant in the state, generating a net total of 2,386 megawatts. However the three largest Illinois nuclear power plants are nearly equal in generating capability as
LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station
LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station, located in Brookfield Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, near Marseilles, southeast of Ottawa, serves Chicago and Northern Illinois with electricity. The plant is owned and operated by Constellation ...
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began oper ...
defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of , concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about , concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.
The 2010 U.S. population within of Braidwood was 33,910, an increase of 6.5 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within was 4,976,020, an increase of 5.3 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Joliet (20 miles to city center), as well as parts of both Aurora and Naperville (42 miles to city center).
Tritium leaks
Exelon was sued by residents of Will County and by the state's attorney in 2006. The lawsuit alleges that the Braidwood plant released radioactive tritium into local water in violation of its permit. However, the US NRC has said the response is based on "emotion, not risk", and gone on record to state the tritium releases did not jeopardize human health or safety in any manner. The Illinois EPA also reported that all tests have confirmed releases are below the action levels of 20,000 picoCuries per liter, currently set by the EPA. However, Exelon agreed to provide bottled water to residents of Godley and to residents within 1500 feet of the blowdown line to the Kankakee River.
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 Braidwood was 1 in 136,986, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.
Bill Dedman
Bill Dedman (born 1960) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, an investigative reporter for ''Newsday'', and co-author of the biography of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark, '' Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and ...
, "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.