Exelon: Outage work gives Q-C economy a $290,000-a-day boost
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By Doug Schorpp | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 |
Ask most business owners within hollering distance of Exelon Nuclear’s Quad-Cities Generating Station in Cordova, Ill., and they gleefully can tell you all about “outage.”
Tom and Julie Ray see their business double at the Great River Mart convenience store in Cordova.
Diana Moldenschardt says all 86 rooms are full at the Super 8 and Comfort Inn & Suites, the side-by-side hotels in LeClaire, Iowa, where she works as assistant manager.
Manager Kim Gooch of Kelly’s Food Mart in Albany, Ill., says sales there bump up significantly this time of year. “... probably 20 to 30 percent increase in daily totals, mostly beer and tobacco,” she said.
All because of the outage.
Unit 2, one of two reactors at the Cordova plant, went offline for a refueling and maintenance outage, something that must be done every two years. The major endeavor requires about 2,000 supplemental workers who come to town to perform extensive inspections, testing and maintenance on a wide range of components and equipment in addition to refueling the reactor.
It’s all done to ensure that once the unit returns to service it will operate safely and reliably during the next 24-month cycle on the Unit 2 main generator, the machine that actually produces electricity.
“Quad-City outages bring hundreds of temporary workers in from outside the area to supplement the team, which provides a temporary economic benefit for local area businesses,” said site vice president Tim Tulon.
He said Exelon estimates that salaries paid during the outage to out-of-town workers is $20.8 million. A lot of that is being pumped back into this community. The transient workers are staying in hotels, eating out, buying gasoline and other items, and visiting entertainment and tourism venues when time permits.
Charlotte Morrison, vice president of marketing and communications for the Quad-Cities Visitors & Tourism Bureau, estimates that visitors spend about $145 a day. With about 2,000 workers here for the outage, that means $290,000 a day.
Morrison said places like the Welcome Center in LeClaire offer lots of information of what to do in the area, in addition to going to the bureau’s Web site, visitquadcities.com.
“It’s unique. It’s like having a long-term convention in town,” said Rick Baker, president and CEO of the Illinois Quad-City Chamber of Commerce.
Moldenschardt, the front desk manager of Super 8 and Comfort Inn in LeClaire, said they look forward to outage time.
There are 54 rooms at the Comfort Inn and 32 at the Super 8, and “usually during outage, we are usually full,” she said. “Some last a month, some of them last a week. Some are repeated customers. They like staying here.”
“We get a lot more traffic, a lot more in sales,” said Julie Ray from the Great River Mart in Cordova. “It almost doubles our sales in the short time they are here. They buy everything actually. They purchase gas, food items, liquor, cigarettes, all of the above. We love it. It’s great, especially after the winter, which is the slowest time of the year.”
Next door to the Great River Mart is the Farmers Table Restaurant. Lisa Coyomani, who owns and manages the eatery that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, says at times, her business doubles and triples during the outage period.
“A lot stop by here when they get in town, check out where they are going to work, and ask for a good place to eat. We have a lot of people stop in here, lot of men. They eat on their way home to their hotel at night and they talk with us. They seem like they are lonely.”
She said the restaurant also provides catered meals at the plant.
Bart Baker is general manager of Frontier Hospitality Group, which owns several hotels, including Best Western Frontier Inn in Clinton, Iowa, and Best Western Steeplegate Inn in Davenport. In addition to housing many of the supplemental workers, the hotels also provide catering services at the Cordova plant, he said. That occurs year-round, but increases dramatically during outage time.
“It is a big boost for us. It is good for the whole economy. Everybody is spending money, contractors, other people. It is a big economic impact, no doubt about it.”
His nephew, Bart Allen Baker, is manager of the hotels for Frontier.
He said both hotels are providing meals now. “Because the volume is so heavy, we have split it up.”
The Frontier Inn make hundreds of meals per day for the regular Exelon employees and the 150 or so added Exelon employees here for outage. The Steeplegate staff, with help from the Clinton hotel, helps make and package the hundreds of meals per shift to the 1,800 or so contractual workers.
“For the Exelon cafeteria, on a normal schedule, we work 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. Now, we are working 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week,” Bart Allen Baker said. “We have front desk people volunteer to work outage for us. It is all hands on deck.”
Kelly’s Food Mart in Albany also benefits, manager Kim Gooch said. One of its specialties is breakfast pizza, made with sausage, gravy and cheese. Some workers buy a slice of breakfast pizza on their way to work and might order a regular pizza later for dinner.
“We love it when there are outages,” Gooch said. “We are right on the main highway (Illinois 84) where they have to get to work.”
She has managed the food mart for 21 years and outages have been “the same as long as I can remember,” she said. “Usually, some of the guys start coming in six weeks ahead of time. We recognize them, and they tell us there is an outage coming up. We tell our salesmen to bump up orders.”
Moldenschardt said normally, this is a slow time for their business. “That is the biggest benefit; it occurs in needs time, typically, in winter’s months. It is very beneficial to us to bring them in during needs time.”
Doug Schorpp can be contacted at (563) 383-2292 or dschorpp@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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