Nuclear power makes a quiet comeback in the states

Nuclear-power supporters in Illinois had tried this before with no success. This time, it was different. On March 15, Jacobs’ bill (bill to reverse ban on new reactors) sailed through the state Senate by a vote of 40-to-1. He’s hopeful of its chances in the state House. “It gave me cover,” says Jacobs, a Democrat, referring to Obama’s announcement. “The president has given us a green light.”

The bill would make Illinois the first state in the country to overturn its own ban on new nuclear power plants. Residents likely wouldn’t see any immediate impact from the change. But it would signal a new willingness on the part of state officials to embrace an energy source that has been out of favor for a generation.

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Pietro Nivola, an energy policy expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., is one of them. “I was a real skeptic of a nuclear revival a few years ago but I’m beginning to change my mind,” says Nivola. “At the local level the ground is beginning to shift.”

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The politics of global warming also have helped nuclear power’s chances. Although Congress has bogged down in its efforts to create a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, energy companies expect legislation sooner or later will drive up the price of fossil fuels and make nuclear power and renewable energy more financially attractive. And while some environmentalists have long complained of the dangers of radioactive waste, others are taking a more positive view of nuclear power.

“You really do need to look across the board at all the low-carbon energy sources that are out there,” says Tony Kreindler, a spokesman for the Environmental Defense Fund. “And nuclear is one of them.”

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Jacobs, the Illinois lawmaker is unperturbed about the question of waste. His district includes the Quad Cities nuclear plant which he says has been “a stable provider in my community.” “I have nuclear storage two miles away from my house, and those spent fuel cells have sat there,” he says. “I’m not worried about it.”