Kendall County Times

The Illinois Senate has passed Sen. Sue Rezin’s bill that would pave the way for the end of the state’s ban on the construction of new nuclear power plants. on Mar 30th.

“Illinois is just one of twelve states in the entire nation to still have a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power facilities. In the past few years, other states, including our neighbor Indiana, have recognized just how arbitrary and archaic these types of bans are and moved to remove them,” said Sen. Rezin. “My legislation is a bipartisan, pro-jobs bill that will help ensure that Illinois is able to effectively compete with other states who are beginning to understand the pivotal role nuclear energy can play in relieving growing energy grid reliability and resiliency pressures.”

Under Rezin’s legislation, public utility and energy companies wouldn’t be forced to invest in nuclear energy but would merely be given the option to invest in new nuclear power construction projects regardless of if the projects are either traditional nuclear reactors or new small modular reactors (SMRs.)

SMRs are the latest and most advanced nuclear energy technology being developed, which have the added benefit of being able to be placed in existing infrastructure, such as factories or retired coal-fired power plants that are already connected to the electric grid.

Senate Bill 76 passed in the Senate with a 39-13 bipartisan vote, and now moves over to the House for further consideration, with Rezin immediately taking time to “thank all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their support of this critical legislation, including State Senator Patrick Joyce who has truly been instrumental throughout the process of passing this bill in the Senate."