Alternative energy is a hot topic this campaign season and recently nuclear power has drawn some of the most praise, as well as worry. 23 News goes to the Byron nuclear plant, for a look at where the industry is headed.

Nuclear power shared the stage with candidates vying for political power at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
"As president I will find ways to safely harness nuclear power," says Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.
Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin counters, "In a McCain-Palin administration, we're gonna lay more pipelines and build more nuclear plants."

Senator John McCain has proposed building 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030. While Senator Obama has called nuclear energy "worth exploring," but not without a safe solution for storing nuclear waste.

That was one of the topics up for discussion Sunday at an open house at the Byron nuclear plant's training center.
"You do have used fuel that is radioactive. We keep it in a pool onsite, but those pools were never built to have enough storage room for the entire operation of the plant," says Bob Kartheiser, the Byron Exelon nuclear plant's communications director.

Byron's fuel pool is now about 85% full and that means it's time to move to dry storage. The fuel assembly canisters are going to be placed inside a concrete overpack with three foot thick walls to make sure no radiation can seep out.

The Byron plant is in the process of constructing those concrete containers. They're a temporary fix until the U.S. government catches up on its plans to build a national nuclear waste repository.

For now Exelon employees are happy to see nuclear plants taking the political spotlight.
"They're a clean, safe, reliable form of energy," says Kartheiser.

Some area residents say they're feeling safer after exploring the inner-workings of the plant.
"They really made you feel at ease today and there's a lot of security in place," says Lanark resident Monica Stengel.

The plant runs constant training and safety drills to prepare for anything from a meltdown, to a hostile invader. The Byron plant has never had an emergency, but if it did, sirens would sound, alerting us to turn on our radios and TVs for instruction.