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Pritzker: Illinois needs renewables and nuclear; lifting moratorium could speed new plants
Summary
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Illinois will pursue wind, solar and nuclear to meet rising electricity demand, noted the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act would lift a moratorium on new large-scale nuclear, and said a licensed site at Clinton could cut development time.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Illinois needs a broad mix of resources—wind, solar and nuclear—to meet rising electricity demand. Asked about criticism from some environmentalists who favor only renewables, Pritzker said the state needs "big base load additions" and that nuclear is part of that mix alongside more wind and solar.
Pritzker noted that lifting the moratorium, as proposed in the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, matters because Illinois already has a licensed site at Clinton where a company could build, which may shorten timelines versus building fresh sites. He also said small modular reactors are coming online sooner than a large new plant and could arrive in the next few years. "We have to look at all of that because what we don't want is to have to go back to the bad old days of coal plants spewing particulates," he said.
Pritzker said regulatory and permitting issues still affect timing and that even with existing sites, a multi-year regulatory process is likely; he estimated a couple of years could be shaved off timelines by using existing licensed property and streamlining approvals.
