MAINE PUBLIC • July 25, 2025
The remains of the Maine Yankee nuclear plant in Wiscasset are protected by a tall chain link fence topped with razor wire and a checkpoint manned by armed guards. But Don Hudson says 30 years ago it was a completely different scene: A huge dome covered a reactor that cranked out a third of Maine's power, the largest single source of electricity in the state. He remembers the plant opening in 1972. Twenty-four years later safety concerns and expensive repairs shuttered Maine Yankee. Hudson chairs the community advisory panel group established first to help decommission the plant and now to advocate for removing fuel waste from the site. He's still working to find a final resting place for 540 tons of spent nuclear fuel still stored in specialized concrete tubes at the former plant. Meanwhile, both the Trump and Biden presidential administrations have pushed policies aimed at encouraging new nuclear generation.