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Ray and Irene Zukley of Zion, Illinois were forced to sell this Lake Michigan beach cottage to make way for Zion Nuclear Station back in the late 60s. The Zukley's and other Zion residents hoped the plant would last for at least forty years, but after fits and starts, it closed fifteen years early.

"Forty miles north of Chicago, along the shore of Lake Michigan, gun-toting guards still warily prowl the grounds of the Zion Nuclear Power Station. Inside, the control room remains staffed by engineers who check radiation levels throughout the plant. But their numbers are far fewer than before 1998, when the two reactors went permanently dark. "A lot of people are surprised, because they think they're going to find tumbleweeds and the place just falling apart," plant manager Ron Schuster said. Schuster stood in the shadow of the 10-story building, its outer wall made of reinforced concrete 3 feet thick, that houses one of the dormant reactors. Workers venture inside only about twice a month now, for inspections and maintenance."

Rick Delisle co-owns two commercial buildings, one of which is depicted in this photo that dates from the time of Zion, Illinois' founding.

n the first of a series of public meetings, members of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission outlined plans to decommission the Zion nuclear power plant by 2018. The plant, which sits on 250 acres of land along Lake Michigan, has not been functional since 1998.

Community activists concerned about storage of spent fuel at the Nuclear Power Station in Zion want more information from owner Exelon on its plan to have the plant dismantled by a contractor. A former commissioner with the Waukegan Park District was among about 60 people who attended a presentation by Exelon Nuclear officials last weekend that drew pointed questions.

A plan to dismantle Zion's nuclear power plant will be delayed by up to 15 months because the fund that will pay for the $1 billion decommissioning has declined in value, officials announced this week. The fund's value, estimated at $900 million in January, has dropped by about 10 percent because of the declining economy, said Marshall Murphy, spokesman for Exelon Nuclear, which is responsible for fund oversight and owns the power plant.

Under the decommissioning proposal from owner Exelon, the plant would be torn down and shipped in pieces to Utah by EnergySolutions (aka ZionSolutions for the project). Under the plan, the decommissioning funds would be turned over to ZionSolutions to ship the low-level radioactive rubble to its dump in Clive.