OREGON – Ogle County is preparing for the removal of storm sirens around the Byron Nuclear Generating Station after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Constellation Energy’s plan to shift to mobile phone alerts for emergency notifications. Work is expected to begin in spring 2026.
Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said the changes won’t be immediate.
“Obviously we’re very early in these talks and part of the process and part of the requirement from the federal government is the educational piece,” he said. “So there’ll be educational meetings throughout the communities as this becomes closer to be put into effect, and we anticipate that it’ll be sometime next year that this will actually go into effect. So we’ve got probably eight to 10 months of implementation process before this happens.”
While most sirens will be taken down, Ogle County officials plan to keep two sirens in areas with poor cell phone coverage, especially near state parks, with an annual maintenance cost of $5,000 each.
To view the current emergency procedures, click here