Dinghan Meng’s article on the governor’s push for nuclear power in Massachusetts (“With Healey push, nuclear debate revived on Plymouth’s shore,” Gazette, Dec. 31) should be alarming to all Bay Staters, especially those in western Massachusetts. The governor’s plan for small modular reactors (SMRs) will result in multiple dangerous facilities in many communities around the state, increasing the risks of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or simple malfunction. SMRs will still contain highly radioactive material which will likely be stored on-site for the foreseeable future.
That this plan made its first public appearance in an energy affordability bill is ironic, since nuclear power is the most expensive energy on the grid and, if implemented, will likely increase our energy bill.
Most alarming, of course, is the provision to repeal the 1982 law, passed by citizens’ petition, that would require a statewide vote before any further development of nuclear power or nuclear waste can happen in this state. That measure was approved by a 2-1 margin — in spite of a reluctant Legislature — and that law remains in force.
That citizens’ petition was not designed for 44 years ago, it was designed for exactly this moment, when a governor, or a small cabal of legislators, or the nuclear industry, should attempt to determine Massachusetts’ nuclear future for us. The people clearly stated that this was an issue they wanted to determine for themselves.
Shame on this governor and her enablers in the Legislature for trying to take that right away. If the governor’s plan to bring nuclear power back to Massachusetts is viable, then she should have to “sell” it to the voters. A democracy requires the consent of the governed.
Cliff McCarthy
Belchertown