Maine
Opinion: Let’s keep the door closed to nuclear energy in Maine
Several bills pending in Augusta are aimed at quietly reviving nuclear power in the state. This follows a national trend to paint nuclear as “clean,” “renewable” and essential — a trend promoted by politicians, more than 30 state legislatures, TikTok influencers, one well-known documentary filmmaker (shame on you, Oliver Stone) and a highly sophisticated, multi-front nuclear industry campaign.
One bill (L.D. 342, sponsored by Rep. Reagan Paul, R-Winterport) would shove nuclear energy into Maine’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). It does not include nuclear in its explicit list of renewable energy sources.
Nuclear energy is not renewable. A reactor’s fuel rods must be replaced on average every three years and 95% of uranium used comes from Canada or Kazakhstan.
Putting nukes on that list may sound innocuous, but RPS guides Maine’s energy policy, strategy and subsidies. The bill is the proverbial “foot in the door” and risks wasting state money that could be used on real renewable energy sources.
A public hearing on L.D. 342 before the Joint Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Feb. 13, in Room 211 of the Cross Building.
Also to be reviewed at that public hearing is another bill sponsored by Rep. Paul (L.D. 343) that would order the Public Utilities Commission to actively investigate small modular reactors. These reactors are still in the design stage, but basically are the same as older mega reactors, including generating radioactive waste. Their development is widely backed by tech titans who contend that artificial intelligence requires massive amounts of electricity, a claim challenged recently by Chinese AI application DeepSeek.
Home rule is challenged in yet another “foot-in-the-door” pro-nuclear bill. It would prohibit a community’s right to veto construction of a nuclear facility in its backyard. Perhaps this bill is intended to lay the groundwork to revive the 1980s proposal for a permanent radioactive waste facility at the bottom of Sebago Lake? That was a bad idea killed, fortunately, by local — as well as statewide — opposition.
By the way, there still are no permanent disposal facilities for the nation’s more than 90,000 metric tons of nuke-generated radioactive waste. It is held — under guard, at great expense and “temporarily” — in Wiscasset and about 100 other sites around the nation.
Maine, at least since the Wiscasset nuke shutdown in 1996, has resisted nuclear energy. Instead, tapping organizations and individuals across the state, it has developed a robust climate action plan for true renewable energy. Goals are set: 100% renewable by 2050. Progress is significant.
Let’s not let a raft of “foot-in-the-door” bills detour Maine from that path.