BYRON — Exelon's Byron nuclear generating station could close as early as mid-2022 because of financial risk, some two decades earlier than its planned retirement.

The company said in a Feb. 8 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the Byron plant and two others — Braidwood and Dresden — are showing "increased signs of economic distress which could lead to an early retirement in a market that does not currently compensate them for their unique contribution to grid resiliency and their ability to produce large amounts of energy without carbon and air pollution."

Crain's Chicago Business said the earliest the Byron plant could close would be mid-2022, the same for Braidwood, and as early as 2021 for Dresden.

Paul Dempsey, communications specialist for the Byron station, said the Byron plant's prices were too high for a transmission company to pay in an August bidding process, and that market flaws that don't recognize the plant's carbon-free emission capabilities are partly to blame. He said Exelon is working at the state, regional and federal levels to emphasize the "benefits of nuclear energy."

The Byron towers, which opened in 1985 and 1987, took 12 years to build and cost $4.5 billion. The plant employs about 800 people.

Georgette Braun: 815-987-1331; gbraun@rrstar.com; @GeorgetteBraun