Exelon has filed license renewal applications with the Nuclear Regulatory Committee for its Braidwood and Byron Generating Stations.
The application filing begins a multiyear review by the NRC to extend the stations’ licenses to operate for another two decades.
Byron Unit 1 is licensed to operate until 2024 and Unit 2 until 2026. The plants generated a combined 37 million megawatt hours of electricity in 2012, enough to power more than four million homes.
Combined, the application totals approximately 3,600 pages and reviews more than 480,000 plant components.
The stations employ 1,700 employees, combined.
Over the next two years, the NRC will review the application for both safety and environmental impacts.
A final decision on the applications would be expected in 2015.