NRC completes environmental review of Dresden SLR

September 15, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News
The Dresden nuclear power plant. (Photo: Constellation Energy)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has found that the environmental impacts of renewing the operating license of the Dresden nuclear power plant outside Chicago, Ill., for an additional 20 years are not great enough to prohibit doing so.

Constellation Energy applied to the NRC for a subsequent license renewal for the two-unit Dresden boiling water reactor in April 2024. If renewed, the SLR will allow the plant to operate for up to 80 years, until December 2049 and January 2051 for Units 2 and 3, respectively.

As published in the September 12 Federal Register, the NRC issued a final environmental impact statement for the Dresden license renewal. In the EIS, NRC staff recommends that “the adverse environmental impacts of SLR for [Dresden] are not so great that preserving the option of SLR for energy-planning decision-makers would be unreasonable.”

NRC staff said its recommendation to allow the operating license to be renewed was based on information provided by Constellation, consultation with affected governmental agencies, an independent environmental review by NRC staff, and consideration of public comments on Dresden’s draft EIS.

Background: Dresden was at risk of early retirement during a period of economic uncertainty, until Illinois enacted the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in 2021. The federal nuclear production tax credit enacted in 2022 extended policy support through 2032. Constellation said that even if the license renewal is granted to allow operations at Dresden through 2051, future policy and market conditions will ultimately determine how long the plant operates.

Dresden employs nearly 700 people; the facility’s workforce more than doubles during its annual refueling and maintenance outage, helping increase worker payrolls and improve the bottom lines of local businesses.


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