Concerned about the future of Commonwealth Edison Co.’s troubled power plant in Zion, the Lake County Board has asked utility officials to brief them on plans to resume operations at the now-shuttered plant.
Board members recently have expressed a litany of concerns about operations at the facility, which has been shut down since last February because of operations errors by employees.
Edison hopes to restart one of the two nuclear reactors at the facility on Dec. 17, but first plans to conduct a three-week demonstration start-up program that will be monitored by officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
NRC approval is required before Edison can restart either of the reactors at the Zion plant, which is the primary supplier of electricity in Lake County. Since February, electricity has been supplied to Lake County from other regions.
Lake County Board Chairman Robert L. Grever (R-Kildeer) said Monday he recently asked Edison officials to update board members on the restart plans.
“A prime concern of mine is that the people of Lake County are going to be assured of having a power source,” Grever said Monday.
“If we have limited power or brownouts or something beyond that, it will have a dramatic effect on Lake County,” he said.
Besides questions about the Zion facility’s ability to pump out power, board members also would like Edison to address safety and employee issues.
Last week, six workers at the 850-employee plant filed suit against the utility, claiming they were reassigned to menial duties after they raised safety concerns about the plant.
An Edison spokesman said Monday that the utility is considering the request to meet with the county officials.
The six workers were among nearly 100 employees whose job performance was reviewed after the February shutdown as part of an intense employee retraining program that is still under way.
Board member Sandy Cole (R-Grayslake) said it was important for workers at the plant to feel comfortable bringing up safety concerns to their bosses at Zion, which also has undergone a management overhaul since the shutdown.
Board member David Stolman (R-Buffalo Grove) said he believed it also was important for Edison not to feel pressured to resume operations too quickly.
“The major factor from the Lake County point of view is we want to make sure it is a safe and secure operation,” Stolman said.
“If they’re not ready for it, rather than push and do something that might imperil some things, I would say take a couple more weeks to make sure everything is worked out well.”
Board member Carol Calabresa (R-Grayslake) expressed similar concerns.
“Everyone is concerned about safety,” she said. “Everyone wants to be assured that all of us are safe here.”
Although Lake County has no authority over operations at the Zion plant, it is responsible for handling emergency evacuation procedures that would be triggered by an accident at Zion.
Edison officials have been working to develop a plan to resume operations at the plant since the February shutdown, when Unit No. 1 was turned off because employees stopped and started the reactor without following proper safety procedures.
At the time, Unit No. 2 was already down for routine refueling.
Edison officials hope to restart Unit No. 2 on Dec. 17 if its NRC-evaluated demonstration start-up program is a success. And No. 1 may be restarted a few weeks later.
