Illinois EPA Grants Provisional Variance to Dresden Station

SPRINGFIELD ---The Illinois EPA has granted a provisional variance to Dresden Nuclear Generation Station (Dresden Station), from their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.  

 

Dresden Station is a nuclear-fueled steam electric generating facility located at the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee Rivers near Morris.

 

The variance will allow Dresden Station to operate its cooling water process in "summer mode" for up to 180 hours, from Nov. 1 through Nov. 20. During this period, the station will install additional equipment to provide redundant capabilities.  This will enable a lift station in the cooling water process to be able to withstand the failure of any single piece equipment without harm to the system.

 

No significant environmental impact will occur as the result of the variance.  Dresden Station will closely monitor the environmental impact from the requested relief and will immediately notify the Agency of any impact along with actions taken to remedy the situation.  In addition, Dresden Station will conduct biological monitoring of the resident fish community, which shall consist of fish sampling during and after the variance period. These data will be provided to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

  

After reviewing the Dresden Station request for variance, the Agency determined that environmental impact from the variance should be minimal, no reasonable alternative appears to be available, no public water supplies should be affected, no federal regulations would prohibit granting the request, and Dresden Station would face an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship if the Illinois EPA did not grant the requested variance.

The variance will be allowed for no more than the aforementioned 180 hours.  All other NPDES permit limits and conditions will remain in effect during this time. 

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