Opinion: New England’s governors need to stop chasing a nuclear energy fantasy

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 30, 2026

Are all six New England governors out of their minds? It’s 2026, renewable energy is surging globally, nuclear power plants remain as dangerous as ever, and they want to build new nukes? New nuclear plants take 10 to 15 years to come online. Solar, wind, storage and efficiency can be permitted and built now, at a fraction of the cost. Every dollar, every year spent chasing nuclear is a dollar and a year not spent on the energy sources that can actually reduce emissions. And every reactor produces radioactive material that will stay lethal for thousands of years, with no permanent storage solution anywhere. Governors, please do your homework to learn why the second Seabrook reactor was never built. In 1972, it was projected to cost under $1 billion. By 1984, the price had ballooned past $10 billion. ~ Rob Okun