(Editor's note: This article was published first at Illinois Policy Institute)
Illinois recently ended the state’s 36-year nuclear moratorium, but it’s a mistake to think that means more nuclear-powered electricity is coming to local homes.
The new legislation keeps the door shut on building traditional nuclear power plants. It ends the moratorium only for one specific kind of reactor called a small modular reactor.
The small units are not designed for the public electrical grid. They are built to be used only by specific sites, such as factories or quarries.
More importantly, small modular reactors don’t exist yet.
According to The Associated Press, the company developing the reactors canceled their plans to pursue the technology on the very day the bill passed the Illinois Senate. According to the report, NuScale Power had the only U.S.-certified small modular reactor design plans. Even if other companies pursue the units in the future, they are likely decades from viability. NuScale did not expect to launch its design until 2029.
If the technology does come to market, the current legislation is still no guarantee it will come to Illinois. The bill requires a safety study first, at the state’s expense, after which regulators could opt to rescind the clearance. If they don’t rescind, it would still only be available to corporate sites should they opt to invest in it themselves.
How did this happen? Back in January 2023, state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, introduced a nuclear bill that would have ended the moratorium in earnest. The bill passed both houses in Springfield and was sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who vetoed it.
Then House Bill 2473 was passed allowing the small modular reactors. Pritzker signed it into law Dec. 8.
Nuclear energy is generally seen as stable, high yield and emissions-free. Pritzker is pushing to make Illinois carbon neutral by 2050, but wind, solar and small modular reactors do not currently have the capacity to push that goal as effectively as new, full-scale nuclear reactors.
Traditional power generation that works when the wind stops blowing or clouds block the sun is still central to the state’s power needs.