Prairie power: Why Illinois needs nuclear energy now

On Tuesday, March 18, a bill advanced out of committee in Springfield that would fully repeal the ban on construction of new nuclear plants in Illinois. It passed on a unanimous vote, 20-0, signaling significant support for the state’s largest source of electricity.

The timing couldn't be better. Power demand is surging due to the electrification of heating and vehicles as well as the AI-boom. Nationally, we can expect peak demand to grow by 151 gigawatts over the next 10 years. Illinois would play a unique role in meeting this demand because of its robust power portfolio — except that the state’s current energy policy has jeopardized this advantage.

Thanks to the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, Illinois is closing 10.6 gigawatts of power capacity by 2030 due to politically-demanded coal plant closures. Without replacement generation, we face higher power prices and a less reliable electricity system. Even worse, shutting down coal in-state doesn’t mean it goes away — more likely, we’ll become reliant on our neighbors’ fossil fuel plants for pricey power imports.

Don’t just take it from us. PJM and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the two power markets operating in our state, have already sounded the alarm that their territories are facing energy shortfalls. Last year the president of MISO even said that the transition to renewables “is posing material, adverse challenges to electric reliability.”

And while the U.S. as a whole is building plenty of wind and solar, the North American Electric Reliability Corp, the non-partisan grid watchdog, has warned that renewables lack the reliability we need to keep our power system stable. As a result, much of the country, including Illinois, is at risk of power supply shocks over the next decade. That’s discouraging for firms hoping to deploy new factories and data centers, and who need heaps of power.

To tackle this challenge, Illinois should become a hotbed for new nuclear builds. After all, we have the most nuclear capacity in the country. Nuclear is emission-free, reliable, and boasts an over 90% capacity factor, meaning it runs at full output almost all the time. For comparison, solar tops out at around a 25% capacity factor on average, while wind averages 35% and natural gas sits above 50%.

With the most nuclear plants in the country, Illinois also has the most potential of any state to add reactors at existing plants. These plants have already cleared the gauntlet of environmental permitting, sparing time and capital for new nuclear reactor construction. Not to mention, their host communities love them because they generate over $135 million of annual property taxes for schools, parks, and local police. Plus, these communities boast well-paying union jobs that have been handed down for generations. New reactor construction would boost economic development for these areas, becoming one of the largest capital projects in the history of the state.

Gov. Pritzker took the first step in 2023 toward unlocking a fission future when he allowed the moratorium on nuclear power plant construction to be partially lifted. Unfortunately, the ban on reactors larger than 300 megawatts was maintained. Thus, all of the reactor types we actually know how to build remain out of reach; the small reactor designs currently allowed are only theoretical. Some of them will eventually be ready for primetime, but as it stands, our partial moratorium sends a message to companies like Amazon, Meta, and Google who want to triple nuclear capacity by 2050: go somewhere else.

It’s time for Illinois to embrace its strengths and fully repeal the nuclear moratorium. Larger reactor designs are complete, they have been built before, and they display exceptional performance. These reactors are shovel-ready — now we need to be allowed to build them. This year, the General Assembly and Gov. Pritzker have the opportunity to make that happen. By fully lifting the ban, they can show the country what Midwestern common sense looks like and enable a new batch of industrial cathedrals to bloom on the prairie.

• Emmet Penney is a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, a contributing editor at Compact Magazine and a recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship. Michael McLean is an independent advocate for nuclear energy. They both reside in Chicago.