Ill. lawmaker shelves nuclear bill

SPRINGFIELD — A north suburban state lawmaker has shelved plans to push for an end to Illinois' moratorium on new nuclear power plant construction given Japan's nuclear catastrophe.

State Rep. JoAnn Osmond (R-Antioch) introduced legislation in January that would have lifted the state's 24-year ban on nuclear power plant construction but said it no longer is on her legislative front burner.

"I don't know it's permanently dead, but it's not a thing we want to do at this point until we've researched and really made sure that whatever causes there were for what happened in Japan are something we wouldn't have right here," Osmond said.

Osmond, who has the mothballed Zion nuclear plant that is being decommissioned in her legislative district, said she pushed the legislation as a way to preserve and create jobs.

"I still believe very strongly this type of power is the cleanest and safest power. Contrary to what is going on in Japan, there's a lot of different elements there I don't visualize ever happening to us in Illinois," she said.

Seven Republican co-sponsors signed on in support of her legislation, which was identical to a measure that passed the Senate last March before stalling in the House.

Illinois imposed a moratorium on new nuclear plant construction in 1987 — one year after the Chernobyl disaster — amid concerns that the state might become a host for out-of-state nuclear waste on top of what Illinois' 14 nuclear reactors already have produced.