Letter: Will you support keeping the Byron facility operating?

A couple of years ago I attended a McHenry County Zoning Board hearing where they discussed two proposed solar farms, one near my home, the other near Solon Road. Former McHenry County Board Chairman and State legislator Michael Tryon, who as a consultant for John A. Raber & Associates, commented that these solar farms were small potatoes and the zoning board should be more concerned if the Byron facility were closed and the generating capacity for millions of customers stopped. Now Exelon has announced it intends to close down the Byron generating station this fall. He also said people want reliability and affordability. Flip the switch expect the lights to go on, open your electricity bill and not have a heart attack. Through the Byron generating station we’ve enjoyed reliability and affordability.

The recent troubles in Texas, snow covered solar farms and frozen windmills, show the vulnerability of these systems. The deregulated market pricing allowed speculators to gouge customers. Remember Enron?

Consider that wind and solar are a poor substitutes for nuclear power. The energy flux density of one marble sized piece of uranium equals 50, 55-gallon drums of oil, 200 railcars of coal, and thousands of acres of forest. In 2015 a license renewal to keep the facility operating to 2040 was granted by the NCR. Not keeping the nuclear electrical generating capacity at Byron is nonsensical.

Will you support keeping the Byron facility operating? Our modern life depend son it.

Nicholas C. Kockler

Woodstock