Chairperson Williams, Vice-chairperson Didech, Spokesperson Welter and honorable members are grateful for the opportunity to testify against House Bill 5589.
My name is Abraham Scarr, and I am the Director for Illinois PIRG. Illinois PIRG, a citizen-funded, nonpartisan public interest advocacy group, advocates for a safer and healthier world.
A moratorium on construction of new nuclear power plants in Illinois is a sound policy that should be kept. The United States does not have a long-term plan to safely store nuclear waste. Nuclear power is expensive and Illinois can meet its long-term energy requirements better with 100% renewable energy.
Safety
The Illinois law currently prohibits the construction of nuclear power plants until the federal Government has approved a technology or means to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. This common sense policy would be eliminated by HB5589. Illinois could become the nation’s largest nuclear waste storage location, with more nuclear generating power than any other state and no viable plan to store nuclear waste federally. This problem should not be made worse.
Cost
Illinois has suffered from the high cost of nuclear power for decades.
There were 75 nuclear reactors built between 1966-86. The average reactor costs more than three times its original construction cost. This is the pattern of reactors currently under construction: In Georgia, two new units at Vogtle nuclear power plant were originally planned to be operational in 2016-17 at a cost $14 billion. Current estimates show that the project will be operational in 2023, at a cost of more than $28 billion.
ComEd’s nuclear power plants construction in the 1980s was plagued with delays and skyrocketing cost 13 times the amount it had spent on plants constructed in the 1970s. ComEd customers were subject to the highest electricity rates in the country because of the overruns in costs. ComEd began one of the most extensive austerity programmes since the great recession to address financial pressures from its nuclear plant construction. [sic]Depression is particularly harmful to the elderly. [transmission and distribution]Side of the company. This caused reliability problems that were only addressed when ComEd used the promise to fix reliability problems as part its campaign to pass formula rate law at its inception of the bribery scheme.
After paying exorbitant rates when ComEd was vertically merged in the 1980s/90s, Illinois consumers were once again forced to pay high power prices. However, restructuring created a competitive market. Exelon Generation, the parent company of ComEd, was pushing for a market for competitive power. This resulted in high power prices and increased profits. In recent years, Illinois residents have been forced to pay $3 billion to subsidize these plants.
There is no reason to continue to throw good money after bad. Illinois should prioritise renewable energy solutions technologies that provide safe, reliable, and secure electricity supplies at an affordable price.
100% renewable future
While nuclear power is still expensive and not competitive in power markets, the cost of renewable energy sources has declined as they have grown. Every dollar Illinois spends on its past energy policies is a dollar it can’t use to build a 100% renewable energy future.
Thank you for the opportunity. I am happy to answer any questions that the committee may have.
