WATCH: Governor suggests ending nuclear ban as lawmaker files pro-nuclear bill

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – After an Illinois state senator filed legislation to streamline permits for nuclear energy projects, Gov J.B. Pritzker suggested ending the state’s moratorium on new large-scale nuclear plants.

When asked about high energy costs at the Illinois State Fair Wednesday, the governor said Illinois could do something important by lifting the decades-old moratorium.

“We already got rid of it on small modular nuclear. We can do that on large nuclear. It’s going to be an important part of a transition to renewable energy everywhere,” Pritzker said.

State Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, has proposed several pieces of legislation to end Illinois’ ban on new nuclear power plants.

Pritzker vetoed one of Rezin’s measures in 2023. Later that year, the governor signed Rezin’s bill to end the moratorium on small modular reactors (SMRs).

Legislation to end the moratorium on large-scale projects did not clear the General Assembly last spring.

“In order to have enough power for the new economy, the AI economy, it’s important that we have reliable capacity power available to us at the lowest cost, which is nuclear,” Rezin told The Center Square.

James Walker, a nuclear physicist for NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. said data centers and artificial intelligence centers are power-intensive.

“You can’t sustain those on wind or solar. You would need a higher baseload power. The good thing about the new generation of nuclear is that you don’t even need to upgrade your local infrastructure,” Walker told The Center Square.

Last month, Rezin introduced Senate Bill 2681 to streamline the permitting process for small reactors.

“My bill mandates that all state agencies act on permit applications for SMRs within 150 days of the application being deemed complete,” Rezin explained.

The Morris Republican added that if no action is taken within that time period, the application would be considered approved unless an extension was granted.

Rezin said that if Illinois doesn’t act, companies will go to neighboring states.

“They can go to Indiana, which many of the tech companies are building out in Indiana and Wisconsin, because they have already passed these similar bills that provide reliability and predictability for companies who are looking to invest very significant amounts of money; billions of dollars of investments,” Rezin said.

Rezin said she hopes SB 2681 is called during the fall veto session.