MORRIS, Ill. (IRN/KMOX) - A nuclear energy watchdog wants us to
be aware of the dangers associated with nuclear power plants.
Illinois has 14 nuclear reactors, 11 of which are still in
business generating electricity. And they’re old, says David
Kraft, executive director of the Nuclear Energy Information
Service. “Our reactors in Illinois first started coming online
in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s,” he said. “We have Dresden I,
which is now closed. Dresden II and III came on-line around
1970, 1971. They were followed by the two Quad Cities reactors –
same design as Fukushima – they came on around ’72-’73.” They
were licensed for 40 years when they opened, though a 20-year
extension is common. Kraft says there has been some
modernization along the way, but usually to fix problems, not to
prevent them. Meanwhile, Exelon says it has “layer upon layer of
safety systems” to protect its Dresden nuclear power plant from
a disaster if there’s an earthquake. The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission asked plant operators to reca