Waste Not Want Not

The Zion nuclear power plant is in the news. At issue is whether no-wake restrictions should be mandated inside the plant's cooling towers.

Haha, j/k. The actual story concerns nuclear waste. According to the News-Sun ...

A bill working its way through the Illinois General Assembly this spring would allow Zion to impose impact fees for the storage of spent fuel at the lakefront nuclear plant that shut down in 1998 and continues to undergo decommissioning.
Lake County senators push bill to collect nuclear impact fees

Exelon, who owns the plant, unsurprisingly opposes the bill:

In a statement opposing the proposed legislation, Exelon officials said any "new fee or tax on used nuclear fuel or used fuel installations in Illinois (would) place further financial burdens on Illinois nuclear plants."
Lake County senators push bill to collect nuclear impact fees

The bill passed the Illinois Senate 36-20, despite votes against the measure from Lake County Senators Dan Duffy and Pam Althoff.

Kudos need to go to Senators Duffy & Althoff for their gutsy votes. Why should Exelon Corporation be expected to clean up their own the City of Zion's mess?

Besides, if your LakeCountyEye reads the News-Sun correctly, Lake County already has the situation under control:

SWALCO offers bailout for chemical gunk hoarders

The Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO) will be accepting household chemical waste on May 16, at the Metra Station in Vernon Hills, no questions asked:

HOUSEHOLD CHEMICAL WASTE COLLECTION EVENT

Note to all the government freeloaders in Zion: Start filling those 55 gallon drums pronto, and get over to Vernon Hills on May 16. The sooner that radioactive waste is in SWALCO's hands, the sooner Zion's problem becomes Vernon Hills's problem!