Dresden fire extinguished early Saturday morning

MORRIS – Dresden Station operators quickly extinguished a fire early Saturday morning on a main power transformer located near the station’s switchyard, which is adjacent to the plant buildings.

The transformer caught fire at 4:28 a.m., and Unit 3 was immediately shut down and remains stable. Unit 2 was not impacted by the event and remains online.

There were no injuries to plant personnel during the fire, and no impact to public health or safety. The fire was extinguished at 6:22 a.m. by the station’s onsite, highly-trained fire brigade. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Local fire departments did respond but their assistance was not required.

Unit 3 will remain offline while the transformer is repaired or replaced.

The fire meets the criteria for declaring an Unusual Event, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s lowest emergency classification for events. The Unusual Event was declared and terminated Saturday morning and Exelon Generation notified all appropriate federal, state and local stakeholders.

Dresden Station is located approximately 60 miles southwest of Chicago. The station’s two reactors produce more than 1,800 megawatts of carbon-free electricity at full power – enough to power more than a million homes.