Illinois currently has the most nuclear reactors in the country, at six, and legislators in Springfield want more.
A new bill, coming up for a vote in the General Assembly after passing out of the House, would lift a decades-long ban on constructing new nuclear facilities.
Business leaders say nuclear power is necessary to provide energy that will be needed throughout the state, but others caution that a new plant would take years to construct and would not solve short-term needs.
“Today, there is huge energy demand,” said Mark Dinzler, president of the Illinois Manufacutrer’s Association. “There’s huge growth because of enhanced manufacturing in quantum and data centers and artificial intelligence. And the states that are going to win the economic development battle are the states that have energy and workforce.”
the Illinois Environmental Council’s Jennifer Walling countered, “Large nuclear power is not going to solve short term capacity. It’s going to be extremely expensive and it’s going to be very controversial.”
“At the federal level, my hope is to see streamlining of the permitting process, which is good right now. It will take 6 to 8 years, maybe more, to go through the process before you can begin building,” said Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris).
Last spring, the state partially lifted a separate ban on small-scale nuclear reactors.
Source: My State Line
