PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Use:  Thursday, May 28, 2025

Contact:  David Kraft,  (773)342-7650 (o); (630)506-2864 (c);  neis@neis.org

Trump Administration Gutting Regulatory Agency, Recent Nuclear Incidents, Coverup: No Time to Open Illinois for More Nuclear Power, Nuclear Watchdog Group Asserts

CHICAGO—At a time when the Illinois Legislature and Governor Pritzker are contemplating the repeal of the Illinois nuclear power moratorium, recent real-world events argue strongly against that move, a local safe-energy advocacy organization argues.

On Friday, May 23, President Trump signed Executive Orders (E/Os) which effectively gut the regulatory power of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to fulfill its mandate to protect the public health, safety and environment.

On the same day it was learned that the aged Quad Cities nuclear reactor station in Illinois had experienced a manual emergency shutdown on May 19, and fire on May 22; and further, that a serious nuclear incident that occurred in March 2023 had been covered up by both the utility and the NRC.

Many experts – including two former Chairs of the NRC — have savaged Trump’s ill-advised weakening of nuclear power regulation. (see attached statement list below).  NEIS points out that the Administration’s desire to expand nuclear while slashing regulation of both aging reactors and experimental, unproven new reactors is a recipe for disaster.  The Boeing plane disasters, the East Palestine train derailment, even the Fukushima reactor disaster – all had their root cause in either de-regulation, self-regulation by industry, or government-industry collusion.

“These events show beyond a doubt that while current regulation is clearly suspect, gutting it further at a time when some Illinois legislators and officials want to expand nuclear power is an outright threat to Illinois,” maintains David Kraft, director of the 43-year old Chicago-based safe-energy advocacy/anti-nuclear organization Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS). “Now is simply NOT the time to repeal the nuclear moratorium,” he asserts.

Legislation SB1527 and HB3604 call for the repeal of the 1987 nuclear construction moratorium, which simply states that no new reactors will be built in Illinois until the Federal Government demonstrates that it has an operational facility to dispose of – not merely store – high-level radioactive waste (HLRW).  The U.S. has failed to build such a facility; and all HLRW remains in storage at reactor sites.  Illinois – with 11 operating and 3 shuttered/decommissioned reactors – currently stores 11,000+ tons of HLRW, more than any other state.

Illinois is powerless to enact protective legislation to compensate for the regulatory safety void created by the Trump E/Os.  The NRC retains preemptive authority on all matters pertaining to safety and security at nuclear power plants.  No state can enact regulations stricter than those created and administered by the NRC, no matter how well-intentioned or protective.  Therefore, neither Governor Pritzker nor the Legislature can enact anything that will provide additional safeguards.

The Quad Cities reactors are owned by Constellation Energy are older and the same design as those which melted down and exploded during the Fukushima disaster.  A manual “scram” – an emergency shutdown – occurred on May 19, followed by a fire on May 22.  But just before these incidents, it was revealed that according to the NRC a serious accident that involved contaminating workers with radioactive water had occurred in March 2023, but was initially covered up by the plant staff.  Three years after the fact, the NRC has still not brought any corrective action or fines to bear.

As if to punctuate this sorry operational and regulatory performance, on Tuesday May 27 the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released a report titled, The Terrible 13: The Worst Safety and Security Violators in the US Nuclear Power Fleet.” The Quad Cities reactors are listed in this Report.

“Governor Pritzker is reported to have said that he wants to, ‘expand the options for nuclear in the state of Illinois….But it has to be done in the right way.’” Kraft notes.

“Under these conditions, there is no ‘right way.’  The questionable level of current regulation, and now the further erosion of even that via the E/Os are not the conditions calling for more nuclear power,” Kraft states.

“Current reactors are showing signs of aging. New reactors would require greater oversight during start-up phase.  With reduced regulatory oversight, neither will be safe.  Now is clearly not the time to bring more nuclear power to Illinois,” Kraft maintains.

“One bad day at the nuclear office will reduce Illinois to becoming the Belarus of North America,” he concludes, referring to the country most heavily impacted by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

–30–

Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) was formed in 1981 to watchdog the nuclear power industry, and to promote a renewable, non-nuclear energy future.

 

Numerous competent nuclear experts have decried the Trump Administration’s irresponsible nuclear deregulation action:

Statements by Dr. Ed Lyman, Union of Concerned Scientists:

“This push by the Trump administration to usurp much of the agency’s autonomy as they seek to fast-track the construction of nuclear plants will weaken critical, independent oversight of the U.S. nuclear industry and poses significant safety and security risks to the public,” UCS added.

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the UCS, said, “Simply put, the U.S. nuclear industry will fail if safety is not made a priority.”

“By fatally compromising the independence and integrity of the NRC, and by encouraging pathways for nuclear deployment that bypass the regulator entirely, the Trump administration is virtually guaranteeing that this country will see a serious accident or other radiological release that will affect the health, safety, and livelihoods of millions,” Lyman added. “Such a disaster will destroy public trust in nuclear power and cause other nations to reject U.S. nuclear technology for decades to come.”

Statements by Dr. Alison Macfarlane, former Chairwoman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission:

“An independent regulator is one who is free from industry and political influence…Once you insert the White House into the process, you don’t have an independent regulator anymore.”

“If you aren’t independent of political and industry influence, then you are at risk of an accident,” Macfarlane warned.

Statement by Dr. Gregory Jaczko, former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission:

Gregory Jaczko, who led the NRC under President Obama, said Trump’s executive orders look like someone asked an AI chatbot, “How do we make the nuclear industry worse in this country?”

He called the orders a “guillotine to the nation’s nuclear safety system” that will make the country less safe, the industry less reliable and the climate crisis more severe.

Statement by Joseph Romm, a senior research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media:

…any reduction in capacity at the NRC would be ill-timed with the administration’s proposed ramp-up of nuclear projects.

“This is not the time to be weakening oversight,” said Romm, who was a senior official at the Department of Energy in the 1990s. “It’s very dangerous to be weakening and undermining and politicizing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s oversight at a time when it’s not going to be having to do less work.”

Speeding up the permitting process while accepting proposals for new reactor designs would be “ridiculous and very dangerous,” he added.

Statement by Johanna Neumann, Environment America Research & Policy Center’s senior director of the Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy:

“Do we really want to create more radioactive waste to power the often dubious and questionable uses of AI?”

 

NEIS CONTINUES THE FIGHT AGAINST NEW ILLINOIS REACTORS!

Urge elected officials to oppose SB1527, SB1538, HB3604, HB3603,

which would repeal our remaining nuclear construction moratorium

Greetings All –

They’re baaaaaccckkk!!!!!!!! Nuclear advocates want MORE reactors in Illinois!!

Bills in the Illinois House and Senate would repeal the remaining moratorium on construction of LARGE and so-called ADVANCED nuclear power plants; and redefine small modular nuclear reactors (SMNRs) as “renewable energy.”  Repealing the moratorium (SB1527) does nothing to dispose of the 11,000+ tons of high-level radioactive wastes (HLRW) in Illinois but would create more.  Defining nuclear reactors as “renewable energy” (SB1538) is language straight out of Orwell’s “1984,” but would make SMNRs eligible for access to genuine renewables funding and transmission access over real RENEWABLE energy sources.

More reactors threaten the CEJA the renewable energy goals; and create further bottlenecks constricting renewables access to the already overcrowded and antiquated transmission grid.  And of course – these reactors would ultimately be paid for by YOU, the ratepayer and taxpayer, through rate hikes and subsidies.

It gets worse. Last Friday the Trump Administration signed Executive Orders which effectively gut the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, making present and future reactors unsafe.  UCS scientist Dr. Ed Lyman stated, “the Trump administration is virtually guaranteeing that this country will see a serious accident or other radiological release that will affect the health, safety, and livelihoods of millions.” 

Rumor has it that the Repeal bills may be packaged into a larger energy omnibus bill, containing provisions that the Illinois environmental community wants and states it will support.  This would be disastrous – a backdoor way of gaining by foul what the nuke folks can’t gain by fair.

So once again, it’s up to us – you and NEIS – to stop this nuclear juggernaut.

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO STOP THE PRO-NUCLEAR FORCES FROM SABOTAGING RENEWABLES AND INCREASING THE RADWASTE HAZARD!

THE MESSAGE FOR YOUR OFFICIALS AND ENVIRO COLLEAGUES:

  1. If SB1527 or HB3604 (and other nuclear related bills like HB3603 and HB1538) come up for a stand-alone floor vote, they should be opposed.
  2. If these bills are combined with or subsumed by larger omnibus legislation, they should be removed.
  3. If these bills should pass, and the moratorium is repealed, we call for the creation of a “citizens nuclear oversight panel,” using as an initial template HB5630 from the 2024 Legislative session, introduced by Rep. Lilian Jimenez.

 

Safe-energy and environmental activists need to contact your rep and senator, and call on them to oppose these pro-nuclear plans!

WHAT YOU CAN DO: SESSION ENDS SATURDAY MAY 31. ACT NOW!!

  • Contact your state Rep and Senator , using the messages above. Find yours and get contact info by clicking this link, and following the instructions.  Be polite, but assertive:  Let them know that Illinois’ energy future is extremely important  to you, and that you don’t want nuclear to be a part of it.
  • Deluge Governor Pritzker’s Comments page on his website, or send a letter to him in Springfield and Chicago, letting him know that you do not want more nuclear plants in Illinois’ energy future; and to support the CEJA goals of more renewables, efficiency, energy storage and improved transmission instead.

Ph: 217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831     Chicago: Phone: 312-814-2121 or 312-814-2122

Even if you’ve done this previously, do it all again!  Visit the NEIS website for more details, NEIS’ testimony, and arguments against the Moratorium repeal and SMNRs.  Share this with friends and family, and ask them to act too.

The Legislative Session is scheduled to end Saturday, May 31.  Quite literally, your actions will determine whether the energy future of Illinois will be nuclear or renewable.

Thanks in advance for your efforts.  Be well, keep on doing!

TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION TO SB1527
The Proposed Repeal of Illinois Nuclear Construction Moratorium
May 1, 2025
By David A. Kraft, Director
Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) is a 44-year old nuclear watchdog, safe-energy advocacy organization based in Chicago. On behalf of our over 800 members, we wish to register our opposition to SB1527, a bill that advocates the repeal of the 1987 Illinois nuclear power construction moratorium, and the development and construction of future nuclear reactors in Illinois.
This moratorium was enacted to protect Illinois from becoming a de facto high-level radioactive waste (HLRW) dump. It simply says – no more reactors will be built in Illinois until the Federal Government honors its legal obligation to build and operate a permanent disposal ** facility for the dangerous spent-fuel radioactive waste reactors create. This facility was supposed to open by 1997, but didn’t. Current government estimates claim we won’t have one before 2048. To date Illinois’ 14 reactors (11 still operating) have created over 11,000 tons of spent-reactor fuel with no disposal** facility in operation. The waste is presently stored** at reactor sites. Legislators in 1987 wanted to make sure that Illinois would have to manage as little of this waste as possible, prior to permanent disposal**.
The good news is – it worked. The Moratorium did and continues to do what it was designed to do: protect Illinois.
Regarding the moratorium repeal, SB1527 not only violates the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” maxim; it goes out and actively BREAKS something that protects Illinois for goals that are illusory at best, nefarious at worst. Regarding future nuclear advocacy, it suggests an inadequately investigated and discussed option for Illinois’ energy future that is strongly contested by competent energy officials and professionals nationwide, without meaningful participation by the public and thorough investigation of the downsides and negative effects, particularly on Illinois’ clean energy goals enacted in CEJA.
While this provides an explanation for the primary issue of origin of this common-sense moratorium – high-level radioactive waste (HLRW) disposal** — passage of SB1527 would make it clear that the Legislature has learned nothing from the 2023 partial Moratorium repeal to accommodate the development of “small modular nuclear reactors” (SMNRs), and continues to ignore unresolved issues regarding nuclear power that will only worsen with its further expansion.

ISSUE #1 – HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL:
Simply put, more reactors of any kind mean more high-level radioactive waste creation, with no disposal option in operation or even in sight. The 11 operating and 3 closed reactors in Illinois have to date produced more than 11,000 tons of HLRW, with an additional ~720 tons stored at the GE Morris Operation site. Each currently operating reactor produces an additional 20-25 tons of HLRW per year of operation.
Storage is not the same as disposal, neither legally nor technically. At a 2019 Congressional briefing on reactor decommissioning, former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Gregory Jaczko had this to say about the storage of HLRW:

Former NRC Chair Greg Jaczko

“If you think about this there are a lot of challenges behind this idea of centralized “interim” storage. The first one is that this is essentially permanent storage.
“As much as you may hear from people that this is centralized “interim” storage, it is de facto permanent storage because once you move fuel somewhere it’s going to be very hard to move it somewhere else…”
“The only place in principle you could move it to would be a permanent repository. But right now, there are NO prospects, certainly not in the next several decades for any type of permanent repository for spent fuel.” (emphasis ours)
[SOURCE: Decommissioning: A New Era for Nuclear Power; a Need for Congressional Oversight, May 13, 2019, https://www.eesi.org/briefings/view/051319nuclear ]
Opening Illinois to becoming a de facto HLRW storage depot is simply irresponsible governance.

 

ISSUE(S) #2 – UNRESOLVED NUCLEAR ISSUES:
Rather than enacting legislation that only makes a bad situation worse, NEIS encourages the Legislature to work on the many unresolved nuclear-related issues that we have called to your attention since 2014. Among them:
• “It’s the Waste, Stupid!”: As illustrated above, everyone makes token nods to the continuously growing HLRW disposal problem, and then moves on to their own narrow priorities, while irresponsibly promoting adding more HLRW.
• Just Transitions for Reactor Communities and Workers: Like it or not, reactors will eventually close, hopefully by choice and not by other unpleasant means. Since 2014 in testimony before the legislature and in letters to the Governor’s office, NEIS has advocated establishing escrowed “just transitions” funds for nuclear communities that would protect local tax bases, and provide worker re-training programs to soften the inevitable blows that “company towns” experience when their largest employer leaves. This concept has been routinely ignored.
• Ratepayers and Taxpayers — Watch Your Wallets!: Recall that the Illinois legislature previously approved $3+ billion in subsidies from 2016 to 2026 for several of Constellation’s reactors that were not economically competitive. These subsidies will expire next year, in 2026. Adding more reactors, especially large-scale one, into the mix of already uncompetitive reactors will most certainly create an energy glut that will further deflate prices – resulting in more ratepayer pain and the very real probability of future bailouts. The applies to both “small modular nuclear reactors” (SMNRs) and proposed full-scale nukes.
• Anti-Corruption Citizen Oversight: the recent nuclear-related scandals, indictments and guilty pleas in Illinois, Ohio and South Carolina, and the outrageous cost and delay of Georgia’s Vogtle 3&4 reactors argue mightily for a different kind of nuclear oversight. NEIS’ unsuccessful 2024 proposal to create an Illinois Citizen Oversight Commission attempted to address this problem, and ensure that the voices of 12+ million Illinoisans — not just those of the politically well-connected and paternalistic nuclear elites — would be reflected in crafting and deciding Illinois’ energy future. Our proposal is available for review and reconsideration.
• Regulatory erosion: The annual budget struggle to adequately fund the Illinois Dept. of Nuclear Safety (and other State agencies), and the Trump Administration’s intention to depopulate and eviscerate independent regulatory agencies like the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is a serious safety concern for the most nuclear-reliant state in the U.S. Many in Washington have long viewed the NRC as a “lapdog” regulator. These actions to further weaken even the lapdog leaves Illinois with no credible oversight of nuclear power. Adding more reactors to this situation has serious negative environmental, safety, health and security implications.
• Transmission woes: For the past four years NEIS has been calling attention to the need to improve the transmission grid. One can have a million reactors or a million wind turbines, but if you cannot provide reliable electrical service by connecting these to the customer, they are all worthless.
Additionally, competition for grid access – already an identified problem for renewables producers — will worsen with the addition of new reactors. If any state money should be allocated anywhere, it should be to enhance and improve grid access and reliability, in tandem with energy storage. Transmission should become the new state priority, not more nuclear.
Concerted action of political as well as engineering/technological interventions are needed, and quickly.
If the Legislature feels a burning need to enact legislation on nuclear power issues, this list would be a far more preferable place to begin, to solve very real, growing and inevitable problems for Illinois communities, ratepayers, and the environment, rather than adding more reactors that will only exacerbate these and other problems.

CONCLUSION:
SB1527 is unacceptable public policy. It literally prematurely and unnecessarily dismantles a successfully protective statute of Illinois law. The recent Ohio vinyl chloride train derailment and the two Boeing 737MAX crashes demonstrate what happens when effective, demonstrably protective regulation is subverted, weakened and ignored. No matter how well intended, SB1527 demonstrates a lack of deep thinking, and amounts to poor and detrimental public policy.
For these reasons we urge the Committee to vote against SB1527, and channel public resources into effective and needed energy solutions: increased energy efficiency and renewables, energy storage, and an improved transmission grid.
Thank you for your consideration of these views.

[NOTE: ** “Disposal” and “Storage” are terms legally and precisely defined in the 1982 High-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act. They are NOT interchangeable terms, and mean qualitatively different things. Great care and legal precision should be used when using either of these terms. “Disposal” is permanent, requiring deep-geological burial; “storage” is temporary, and is usually above ground/grade. The Illinois Moratorium requires a federal “disposal” solution, NOT “storage.”]

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NEIS FIGHTS FOR INCREASED PUBLIC VOICE ON NEW REACTORS!

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