nuclear-news

No proper investigation done on the dangers of nuclear plants for Illinois

Jimmy Seidita: Task Force Drops the Ball; State Senate Votes to Open the Door for New Nuclear Plants in Illinois, THE HUFFINGTON POST, 17 march 2010, On Monday, the state Senate voted on and passed a potentially catastrophic bill, despite getting no input from its own state task force, set up two years ago....The moratorium was put in place in 1987, when legislators, regulators and ratepayers were all struggling with the disastrous economic consequences of the billions of dollars in cost overruns rung up by the last few nuclear plants built in Illinois.

In 2008, a few legislators proposed lifting the ban and the general assembly, faced with the complexity of the many issues (radioactive waste, climate change, jobs, security) passed Senate Joint Resolution 101, establishing a task force of legislators and other state officials to study these issues and report back to the legislature in January of 2009, so that it could make a more informed decision…. The task force met exactly once: in December 2008, in Chicago. At that meeting the chairs explained that they hadn’t had time to schedule any meetings or conduct any kind of a review, and would be asking the general assembly to extend the date for their report. The task force never met publicly again. Never reviewed anything. Never investigated anything. Never reached any conclusions about anything. Never reported anything…..
Nonetheless, without any kind of input from its task force, the state senate voted on Monday to lift the moratorium on new nuclear plants in Illinois. No discussion about the impacts on electric rates. Nothing about the implications of making more nuclear waste that will be stored in Illinois indefinitely, and will remain lethal (pretty much) forever. Nothing about the disastrous, job-killing impact on the nascent wind energy, solar energy, and energy efficiency industries in the state……

One of the other things the task force was supposed to look into, but didn’t, was the set of homeland security implications of new nuclear plants…..

What did the task force say about terrorists infiltrating nuclear power plants? Nothing at all….
How much confidence does this vote inspire in the public? None at all.

Jimmy Seidita: Task Force Drops the Ball; State Senate Votes to Open the Door for New Nuclear Plants in Illinois

March 19, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors