Posted by Barton Lorimor

The ongoing situation in Japan has prompted a lot of discussion about nuclear safety here at home. It’s an issue both of Illinois’ U.S. Senators are taking up together…

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk says the size of the evacuation zones around the six nuclear power plants in Illinois should be reviewed.

Kirk and fellow U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin held a forum Friday with a panel of four nuclear experts that resembled a congressional hearing to talk about safety in Illinois in the wake of the disaster in Japan.

Four of Illinois’ 11 reactors are almost identical to those involved in Japan’s nuclear crisis. Exelon Corp. owns the plants and says they’re safe.

Officials sought to assure the senators that Illinois plants are safe and have multiple layers of safeguards.
Kirk and Durbin also were interested in making sure the state’s stockpile of potassium iodide pills for people in evacuation zones is consistent with new 2010 census numbers.

The reactors may be the same, but it’s my understanding the plants’ back-up power generators are enclosed in water-tight compartments and not narrowly above sea level.

Outside of Gov. Quinn’s call for the state’s nuclear operators to provide the state financial assistance to ensure its plants are up to snuff, the topic might continue closer to home…

Sneed hears state Senate President John Cullerton plans to call for a hearing on nuclear energy in Illinois this week in light of the nuclear radiation tragedy in Japan.

And while that possibility hovers, another has gone away…

A north suburban state lawmaker has shelved plans to push for an end to Illinois’ moratorium on new nuclear power plant construction given Japan’s nuclear catastrophe.

State Rep. JoAnn Osmond (R-Antioch) 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.

Speaking of death and destruction, columnist Sam Freedman expanded more on Gov. Quinn’s reliance on Cardinal Bernardin’s writings when deliberating the death penalty repeal…

With the stroke of the governor’s pen, the cardinal has been posthumously vindicated on at least one piece of that seamless garment. In doing so, Mr. Quinn, a Democrat, also ratified the cardinal’s belief that religious thought has a place in the formulation of law, a premise the governor’s fellow liberals generally resist.

“I think it’s indispensable,” Mr. Quinn said in a telephone interview this week. “When you’re elected and sworn into office, that oath really involves your whole life experience, your religious experience. You bring that to bear on all the issues.”

Meanwhile, is there a lawyer in the house that can talk to us about this one…

As far as Brian Towne is concerned, accused killer Keith Mackowiak still faces the death penalty if convicted of murder.

The La Salle County’s state’s attorney said Thursday he has no plans to “decertify” Mackowiak’s case, which would make Mackowiak ineligible for capital punishment.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation March 9 abolishing the death penalty in Illinois. Towne, however, pointed out the new law’s limited verbiage merely says the death penalty will be abolished on July 1.

The law makes no mention of capital cases already pending.

* While we’re talking about death, this would just be another kick in the face for Decatur, not to mention the potential effects in Peoria…

The chairman and CEO of Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. is raising the specter of moving the heavy equipment maker out of Illinois.

In a letter sent March 21 to Gov. Pat Quinn, Caterpillar chief executive officer Doug Oberhelman said officials in at least four other states have approached the company about relocating since Illinois raised its income tax in January.

“I want to stay here. But as the leader of this business, I have to do what’s right for Caterpillar when making decisions about where to invest,” Oberhelman wrote in the letter obtained Friday by the Lee Enterprises Springfield bureau. “The direction that this state is headed in is not favorable to business and I’d like to work with you to change that.”

Oberhelman said he’s being actively courted to move.