Task force to study nuclear power issues in Illinois
A new government task force will study the use of nuclear power in Illinois and investigate whether it should be expanded, lawmakers announced Friday.
Safety and security concerns will be among the issues explored by the 11-member Nuclear Power Issues Task Force, which was jointly formed by the state Senate and House.
The panel - the idea of state Sen. Michael Bond, a Grayslake Democrat - will consist of lawmakers from both parties and both chambers of the General Assembly, as well as representatives of the attorney general's office, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The civilian business and environmental communities also will have representatives on the task force, according to a news release.
Members haven't been chosen yet. The group will report its findings to the General Assembly by the end of the year.
Illinois has 11 operating nuclear reactors at six plants, more than any other state. All are owned by Exelon Corp., the parent company of ComEd.
About 49 percent of the state's energy comes from nuclear power, according to a report by the Washington, D.C.,-based Nuclear Energy Institute.
The task force's creation comes a few months after a legislative proposal to lift a statewide moratorium on new nuclear plants stalled in committee. State Rep. JoAnn Osmond, an Antioch Republican who led the push to lift the moratorium, supports the task force and the need to explore nuclear power options.
"We are going to run out of electricity 30 years from now or 20 years from now, and we've got to do something," said Osmond, whose district includes the long-shuttered Zion nuclear plant. "Let's open the doors in Illinois and start thinking about the future."
Osmond plans to reintroduce legislation next year that would lift the moratorium. The task force, she said, could get people talking about the plan.
In addition to safety and security, officials say the task force will focus on: the decommissioning of existing and retired nuclear plants; waste storage and disposal; the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel; and the state's 21-year-old moratorium on new reactors.
Some proponents say nuclear power plants should be considered for future energy production because they don't produce air pollution or greenhouse gases and don't consume fossil fuels.
But critics such as the Nuclear Energy Information Service, a Chicago-based watchdog group, say nuclear power poses health and environmental threats, is uneconomical and cannot appreciably help reduce global warming.
NEIS Director Dave Kraft said he has "very serious doubts" about the new task force. It's too heavily packed with politicians, he said, and could just be for show.
If the panel is sincere, Kraft said, his group would be happy to assist.