Grundy County, Ill., is the location of the first privately financed nuclear power plant built in the United States. Dresden 1 was activated in 1960 and retired in 1978. Operating since 1970 are Dresden units 2 and 3, two General Electric boiling water reactors. Dresden Station is located on a 953 acre (3.9 km²) site in Grundy County, Illinois, slightly north of Coal City, Illinois. It serves Chicago and the northern quarter of the State of Illinois, capable of producing 871 megawatts of electricity from each of its two reactors, enough to power over one million average American homes. Dresden was the first nuclear power plant to be built with private funds. Reference |