Illinois Exelon officials to retire nuclear plant

Officials with Exelon have notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of plans to close the Clinton Nuclear Plant in 2017, marking the first of several procedural notifications Exelon will make in the coming months to inform regulators, grid operators and state agencies of the plant's retirement. The notification is required by federal law. The planned closure of the Quad Cities plant in 2018 also was formally documented with the NRC. Decisions on capital improvements and planning for an outage to refuel the Clinton plant in 2017 are being weighed in light of the pending closure. The decision to retire the plant could be reversed if a compromise is reached in Springfield on energy legislation, but with lawmakers mainly focused on budget issues, the future of nuclear power has not been a priority in legislative talks.