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Gov. J.B. Pritzker in August vetoed a similar measure.
"The bill is vetoed because the vague definitions in the bill,
including the overly broad definition of advanced reactors, will
open the door to the proliferation of large-scale nuclear
reactors that are so costly to build that they will cause
exorbitant ratepayer-funded bailouts," Pritzker said.
Now, if approved during the last week of the veto session, a new
measure would allow for the state to build new small nuclear
reactors.
State Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, on Tuesday discussed a Senate
amendment to House Bill 2473. She hopes the updated language
will address some of the governor's concerns.
"This has been a long time coming," Rezin said. "This language
is carefully crafted language based on the governor's veto
message. It makes a lot of changes to the original Senate Bill
76 that lifted the ban in Illinois."
The changes in the language include more of a role for state
government.
"It is my hope that this new bill will address the concerns of
the governor by including a very specific and intentional
definition of what constitutes new nuclear within our state,"
Rezin said. "Furthermore, it will include state-level oversight
in addition to the already stringent oversight laid out by the
federal government."
The measure was not voted on by the Senate committee, but Rezin
hopes the bill will be able to be addressed before the end of
this week's veto session.
"As a result of ongoing negotiations with the support of the
Senate president, his team, and other stakeholders, we are in
the process of finalizing the language for legislation that I
believe will be voted on in the Senate this week," Rezin said.
The longer they wait, the further the state will fall behind
other states, she said.
"We must act quickly to ensure that our state has the
opportunity to take advantage of the amazing advancements in new
nuclear technology that have occurred over the past couple of
decades," Rezin said. "The longer we wait to end this
moratorium, Illinois falls further behind the rest of the
nation."
The
moratorium to end nuclear power in Illinois was enacted in the
1980s.
The fall veto session ends Thursday.
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