Marseilles, Illinois - Operators at Exelon Nuclear's LaSalle County Generating Station returned Unit 1 to the electrical grid today, completing a scheduled maintenance and refueling outage that began February 8.
Employees and supplemental workers performed more than 10,000 inspection and maintenance activities on various plant components. Many of the activities performed during the refueling outage cannot be performed while the unit is running. All activities are designed to ensure the unit's continued safe, reliable production of electricity that emits virtually no greenhouse gases.
"The LaSalle team completed a great deal of work during this outage, always keeping safety as our top priority," said David Wozniak, site vice president, LaSalle Station. "The work completed will help us continue to provide safe, reliable electricity to the region."
More than 1,700 additional workers were on-site to support the outage. The outage provides temporary employment opportunities for local trade professionals and others who travel to LaSalle from outside the area.
LaSalle Unit 2 operated at 100% power during the Unit 1 refueling outage.
LaSalle County Generating Station is located approximately 75 miles southwest of Chicago. With both units at full power, the site produces more than 2,200 megawatts net, which is enough electricity for 2.3 million homes.