Marc Nelson - USA

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I’ve come from Chicago, Illinois. Where—for about a year and a half—two of the giant nuclear plants outside of our city were scheduled for closure. Everyday we got up not knowing whether our city would have power next winter.

Everyday the workers of that plant did not know whether or not the nuclear plant that they protected, that they absolutely loved and cherished, and that they knew was providing the clean energy required to power Illinois and Chicago, they woke up not knowing whether they would have a job at the end of next week.

The first nuclear plant scheduled to shut down Monday, ‘Byron’, 2.2 gigawatts, with its twin ‘Dresden’ provided enough power to power an entire European nation.

Well, as of Friday, we’ve just heard that in Springfield, Illinois they are hours away from signing a bill that will save those plants and keep them open for another decade, for another 20 years, 40 years, 50 years.

As far as we can see the grandchildren of those plant workers will grow up working at those nuclear plants.The lights will stay on in Chicago this winter and all winters after that.

And I tell you, those of us in Illinois fighting for those plants, we will celebrate, we will party, we might even go on vacation. And then we turn our eyes to Belgium, where we will fight with you everyday to save your plant, to protect it, and to enjoy what we have in Chicago—a lifetime, a future powered by nuclear energy.