((BRITTANY))
THE BYRON NUCLEAR
POWER PLANT HITS A
MAJOR MILESTONE
THAT'S BEEN A
DECADE IN THE
MAKING.
ALEXIS CARPELLO
WENT OUT TO THE
POWER PLANT
AND ALEXIS CURRENT
WORKERS SAY THEY
OWE A LOT TO THE
NOW RETIRED
EMPLOYEES WHO
LAID THE GROUND
WORK.
((ALEXIS))
ELECTRICITY IS
ALWAYS NEEDED SO IT
TAKES A LOT OF
EMPLOYEES TO MAKE
SURE THE PLANT IS
ALWAYS
FUNCTIONING.
((ALEXIS))
EMPLOYEES...PAST
AND
PRESENT...CELEBRAT
ED 4,500 DAYS
STRAIGHT...OF
OPERATION FOR
BYRON STATION.
nergy zapping
4,500 CONSECUTIVE
DAYS OF OPERATION
AT THE BYRON
NUCLEAR
GENERATING STATION
CALLS FOR A
CELEBRATION.
clapping
Mark Rasmussen /
Retired Shift Manager
"It's an astonishing
accomplishment."
RETIRED SHIFT
MANAGER, MARK
RASMUSSEN TOOK HIS
NUCLEAR
ENGINEERING
DEGREE STRAIGHT
FROM COLLEGE TO
THE BYRON STATION.
Mark Rasmussen /
Retired Shift Manager
"I started in 1982 and I
just retired last year in
2019."
Mark Rasmussen /
Retired Shift Manager
"Mostly as the operators
we were just sitting there
ready to deal with any
sort of things that came
up that were
unexpected."
NUCLEAR POWER
PLANTS HEAT WATER
TO PRODUCE STEAM.
THAT STEAM IS THEN
USED TO GENERATE
ELECTRICITY.
Mark Rasmussen /
Retired Shift Manager
"A lot of the work that
some of us did earlier in
our careers here, back in
the 70s and 80s, was
addressing the issues
that made the plant less
reliable, and this
accomplishment of 45
years, here and
especially the 4,500
consecutive days is kind
of an indication what we
did was effective."
CURRENT PLANT
MANAGER HARRIS
WELT SAYS ROUTINE
MAINTENANCE
ESTABLISHED BY
PEOPLE LIKE
RASMUSSEN HAS
BEEN CRITICAL.
Harris Welt / Byron Plant
Manager
"4,500 days goes back to
2007, so that's a lot of
years and a lot of work to
make that happen."
Harris Welt / Byron Plant
Manager
"It's really a tribute to all
of our 700 employees
that work here at Byron
Station to operate the
plant day and night,
address all of our issues
and keep the units
running all the time."
IN THE END WELT
SAYS THE EFFORT IS
ALL ABOUT SAFETY.
Harris Welt / Byron Plant
Manager
"our number one goal is
to generate electricity for
the communities."
Harris Welt / Byron Plant
Manager
"We have to operate our
plant safely and reliably
everyday, and then we
have to do the right
maintenance on our
equipment at the right
time so we don't have
any issues operating the
plant."
A RECENT 20 YEAR
LICENSE EXTENSION
MEANS THE PLANT
WILL PROVIDE POWER
FOR YEARS TO COME.
Paul Dempsey /
Communications
Manager, Byron Station
"It's a very important
thing, things like
renewables are
important, but their
intermittent where our
nuclear plants are always
operating in the coldest
weather and warmest
days in summer."
((ALEXIS))
OFFICIALS SAY THAT
THE UNITS WERE
ORGINALLY DESIGNED
TO OPERATE FOR 40
YEARS.
MAINTENANCE IS
CREDITED WITH
EXTENDING THAT LIFE
FOR 20-MORE.
TO SEE MORE OF
WHAT THE
CELEBRATION
LOOKED LIKE HEAD TO
THIS ARTICLE ON MY
STATELINE DOT COM.
((BRITTANY))
THE STATE OF
ILLINOIS SAYS IT
BROUGHT IN MILLIONS
