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!

Nuclear Energy Video from the Stevenson Center

The Stevenson Center hosted a program on Nuclear Energy last weekend.

Nuclear Energy:
Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives

The speaker, Roger Frechette, mechanical engineer and LEED-accredited professional with 20 years experience, clearly explained modern energy options using the Chicago Loop as his example. Facts and statistics illuminated his talk. Frechette's company, PositiveEnergy Practice, works with municipalities, urban planners, and others to create sustainable master plans and decarbonization strategies, including those that harvest wind, solar and geothermal power.

For those this missed the presentation, video is available:



More can be seen at Adlai Stevenson Center Video Archive

Nuclear Energy: Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives

The Stevenson Center will host a program on Nuclear Energy this weekend:

Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy

Nuclear Energy: Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives

Robert Rosner, the former director of Argonne National Laboratory and Director of the Harris Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago will speak about the benefits of nuclear energy. David Kraft, Director of NEIS (Nuclear Energy Information Service) will speak to the problems of aging plants and the management of nuclear waste. Roger Frechette, founder and president of PositiveEnergy Practice will speak about the use of conservation, design, planning and imagination in solving energy needs.

• Sunday
  September 18, 2011
  2 PM
• The Stevenson Center on Democracy
  25200 N St Mary's Rd
  Mettawa (Libertyville), IL 60048
  847-816-7433
• $15
• Coffee and conversation following.

The Nuclear Option

Your LakeCountyEye will be visiting the Zion Nuclear Power Station this April Fool's weekend, to work on the LakeCountyEye tan. As readers of this blog will know ...

That Healthy Glow

tanning parlors, because of their harmful UV radiation, are destined to become adults-only in Illinois. And the only way your LakeCountyEye now hopes to maintain the signature suntan will be with the direct application of radioactive isotopes. The meltdown at the Fukushima reactor has unquestionably been a windfall -- but nothing beats a long weekend at a decommissioned nuclear power plant for turning that dawn-of-the-dead blogger's pallor into a rich chocolate brown patina.

Zion Nuclear Power Station Fun Fact #1:

The Zion Nuclear Power Station was retired on February 13, 1998. The plant had not been in operation since February, 1997, after a control-room operator accidentally shut down Reactor 1 and then tried to restart it without following procedures.
WikiPedia

D'Oh!

Situated in JoAnn Osmond's 61st House District, Zion is the only nuclear plant in Lake County. But not from any lack of trying on Osmond's part. According to the News-Sun ...

Osmond introduced legislation in January that would have lifted the state's 24-year ban on nuclear power plant construction, but said it no longer is on her legislative front burner. "I don't know it's permanently dead, but it's not a thing we want to do at this point until we've researched and really made sure that whatever causes there were for what happened in Japan are something we wouldn't have right here," Osmond said.
Osmond shelves bill to lift ban on new nukes

The legislation may be off the front burner -- and in the nuclear cooling tower -- but your LakeCountyEye, for one, looks forward to a Lake County with a nuclear plant conveniently located in every town or township. That would certainly beat having to schlep over to Zion just for a lousy suntan.

Until then, look for your LakeCountyEye doing laps in the spent fuel pool -- maintained at a constant & toasty 120°F!