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Thank you, Karen, for that kind introduction, and thanks to Parsons for sponsoring this lunch.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Leslie Barbour and the Nuclear Energy Institute for inviting me to join you today at this, the fourth annual nuclear energy R&D summit. The decision to be here today was not a difficult one. How often does one get invited to address a packed room full of people who are likely to agree with almost everything you say? It’s not very often, let me assure you.

I must admit that my decision long ago to support nuclear energy was not a difficult one either, for parochial as well as national reasons.

A Nuclear State – Illinois and Argonne
For someone from the State of Illinois, and from my district in particular, supporting nuclear energy, and nuclear energy R&D, is not much of a political gamble. As many of you probably know, my home state of Illinois is a nuclear state.

Two years ago, my colleague from Texas, Congressman Henry Bonilla visited Illinois for a fly-around. As we were buzzing over the landscape, he was curious to know what these large, oddly-shaped industrial facilities were that dotted the Illinois landscape. Were they chemical plants? Because he sure hadn’t seen any chemical plants like that in Texas. I told him no, they weren’t chemical plants, but rather nuclear power plants that produced almost 50 percent of the electricity consumed in Illinois. He was amazed at their size, and the sheer number that he saw in one day while flying the skies of Illinois.

Illinois is more than a nuclear state; it was the birthplace of nuclear energy. I don’t need to tell you the stories of Enrico Fermi producing the first sustainable chain reaction under the squash courts at the University of Chicago, because they are more than stories. They are legends. They are history.