Illinois Valley Times

State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) recently took part in a nationwide webinar hosted by the American Nuclear Society to discuss challenges the nuclear energy industry faces amid the push for  clean energy sources.

The day before the webinar took place, Rezin shared a picture of herself on Twitter getting ready for the nationwide virtual talk.

"Prep call for the American Nuclear Webinar tomorrow," Rezin wrote in a Dec. 13 tweet. "Subject will be US Nuclear Power Plants: Clean Energy Assets at Risk. I'll be discussing the energy bill passed in IL that preserved our nuclear power plants."

Rezin was one of three panelists in the webinar that was moderated by Craig Piercy, Executive Director and CEO of the American Nuclear Society.

"Thank you to the @ANS_org for organizing and including me in today's panel! I would also like to thank my fellow panelists American Nuclear Society CEO Craig Piercy, Ph.D. candidate Ejoeng Baik, and @IBEW Utility Dep. Director Donnie Closton for the amazing discussion," Rezin tweeted the following day. 

In September, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) signed Senate Bill 2408, which allowed two of Exelon's Illinois nuclear power plants to stay online. Rezin was one of just three senate Republicans who voted for the measure. Half of the state's nuclear plants are located in her district. 

"For nearly two years, thousands of Illinois workers employed by our state’s nuclear power plants dreaded the possibility of losing their jobs and being forced to leave the communities that they love and the lives that they have built,” Rezin told the American Nuclear Society. “Communities like the ones in my district feared what would happen once their plants went off line and they lost the vital tax revenues that [the plants] provide for their schools and their critical services."

She also added that both legislators and stakeholders spent a lot of time working to not only preserve the state's nuclear energy plants, but to save the jobs that would be lost should they close. 

Rezin celebrated the bill becoming law on the day Pritzker signed the legislation. 

According to the McLean County Times, she took to Facebook where she said the governor's signature meant their efforts to save the nuclear power plants and accompanying jobs were "official."