The Ogle County Sheriff’s Office says the public is not in danger after a chemical exposure involving employees working during the outage at the Constellation Generating Station located at 4405 N. German Church Road in Byron, Illinois.
According to a release from the Sheriff's Office, multiple ambulances responded to the scene and transported several employees to local hospitals for evaluation and treatment.
A spokesperson from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tells WNIJ the incident wasn’t related to the nuclear operations of the plant.
The plant is currently on a scheduled “outage,” a period when it’s powered down for maintenance and refueling.
Constellation Energy, which owns and operates the power plant, issued a statement Tuesday night:
"Earlier today, eight outage workers at the Byron Clean Energy Center were transported to local hospitals as a precaution after a small amount of a common non-radiological chemical used in plant systems escaped a holding tank in the turbine building. Byron’s highly-trained response teams took appropriate steps to contain the leak quickly and ensure potentially impacted workers received appropriate medical attention. While this event does not impact public health or safety, we will continue to keep Byron workers and community stakeholders informed."
In a Facebook post, Ogle County board member Zach Oltmanns expressed gratitude for the first responders at the scene.
"Today’s event at the Byron Nuclear Plant is understandably concerning for many in our community," he said, "and serves as a reminder of the serious and complex work performed at the facility every day. It also reminds us how quickly situations can change. Our community benefits from dedicated professionals who train, prepare, and respond to keep people safe. Today’s response is a reflection of that commitment."
Meanwhile, some LaSalle County residents who were already on edge because of impending severe weather were dealt another scare Tuesday afternoon – Sirens at the nearby nuclear plant began blaring around 3 p.m. Law enforcement quickly got the message out to residents of Ottawa, Seneca, and Marseilles that it was a false alarm. A faulty piece of equipment at the La Salle Generating Station set off the sirens in error. Sirens in a 10 mile radius of the plant are supposed to alert residents in case of a nuclear emergency.
