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CHICAGO — In light of the crisis in Japan, Illinois needs to review the size of evacuation zones around its six nuclear power plants and ensure there is a sufficient stockpile of potassium iodide pills, U.S. Sens. Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin said Friday during a forum on nuclear safety in the state.
“Illinois is the most nuclear state in the country. We have the largest fleet of 11 reactors and we need to make sure in light of what happened at Fukushima that they’re run safely. I think there are some lessons learned,” Kirk said.
The forum in a Chicago federal courtroom resembled a congressional hearing with the two Illinois senators on a raised judge’s bench quizzing four nuclear experts from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Argonne National Laboratory and Exelon Corp. Exelon operates the reactors in the state, including the Braidwood plant in Braceville and the Dresden plant in Morris.
