Lawmakers should override veto of bill to end nuclear power moratorium

This week, Illinois state representatives and senators have been in Springfield for the fall "veto" session. They're scheduled to come back again in a little over two weeks. One important consideration for them is how to respond to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's veto of SB 76.

This bill, which passed both chambers with broad bipartisan support, removes the state's moratorium on new nuclear power plants. It was long overdue. The General Assembly should override this veto, and allow all clean energy sources to be able to be considered, to address climate, energy security, environmental justice, grid reliability and economic development concerns.

Nuclear energy's acceptance in our country is growing, and the Illinois legislature's support of SB 76 reflects this. Unfortunately, a small minority of highly influential lobbyists, who oppose nuclear energy, are working hard to derail this common-sense bill.

These organizations, who are often members of the Illinois Environmental Council, oppose virtually all legislation that might support nuclear energy, which is among the cleanest, safest, most reliable, most scalable energy sources we have. These same organizations claim to be concerned about climate change, which could be directly and robustly addressed by additional nuclear energy power plants in our state. If you care about the environment, it makes no sense to oppose development of more nuclear energy.

The concerns raised by Gov. Pritzker are not good reasons to let this veto stand. Let's take a look at them:

• Illinois state agencies are not yet able to ensure that our residents will not be harmed by these new nuclear designs

First, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission is tasked with making sure that all designs, and all implementations of those designs, are safe. The near-perfect safety record of the heavily regulated nuclear industry is already better than that of any other industry.

Second, given long lead times for any major infrastructure project, there is plenty of time for any additional rule-making needed to accommodate new nuclear plant designs in our state.

• Large (gigawatt scale) reactors can't be allowed to proliferate around our state, and the state's ratepayers/taxpayers then having to bail them out.

First, nowhere in the world are large nuclear reactors "proliferating" (and why again would that be a bad thing, with all the dirty coal and gas we need to replace?).

Second, Illinois is a "merchant market," which means that any organization wanting to build a new nuclear plant will need to do that on their own dime, and any cost overruns will need to be covered by them.

Third, while newer, smaller designs are promising, large gigawatt scale reactors are the ones we have experience building - banning them is only playing into the hands of interests who wish to see no nuclear at all.

• Nuclear energy development will take away resources from renewable energy expansion, harming our ability to deploy more wind and solar.

First, focus. The goal is reducing emissions, not increasing deployment of more solar and wind, which have no track record of actually cleaning up a state-level grid.

Second, SB 76 does not fund anything, it merely removes the ban on new nuclear energy plants. Wind and solar already have lots of funding from the recently-passed CEJA (state) and Inflation Reduction Act (federal) bills. None of that will be affected by overriding this veto.

Illinois has a boatload of coal and gas generation to replace. Trying to do this using only intermittent sources like solar and wind will fragilize our grid, increase electricity prices and leave communities that host these fossil fuel plants to turn into ghost towns. While there is no guarantee that any new nuclear will get built here, it is virtually guaranteed that none will be built if we don't remove the moratorium, without a size restriction (as proposed by the governor).

We need all clean energy options to be available, not banned due to the dogmatic opposition of nuclear technology from a well-connected, vocal minority.

Legislators, especially progressive Democrats, might be concerned that any vote to support nuclear energy will give them a ding on their IEC report card. However, with so much at stake, caving to a special interest minority that opposes our largest clean energy source does not seem to be a good look. And maybe you want to ask leaders of the IEC why, if they are so concerned about climate change, they want to continue to keep a ban in place on our safest, cleanest technology to help fight it.

The Illinois General Assembly should stick to their guns on SB 76 and vote to override the Governor's veto. Let's do this.

• Alan Medsker is Illinois coordinator for The Campaign for a Green Nuclear Deal.