BOSTON — Energy safety advocates want senators to reject provisions of a sweeping House energy bill that clears the path for new nuclear development. Meanwhile, lawmakers say they’re embracing all forms of energy, including newer and safer kinds of nuclear power, to help lower residents’ skyrocketing bills.
Representatives with several groups, including the Sierra Club and Commonwealth Coalition for Democracy and Safe Energy on recently lobbied for senators to shoot down a provision in the House energy affordability legislation (H 5175) that is designed to facilitate potential nuclear power development.
The House voted 128-27 to pass the bill in February and a redraft is expected to emerge soon from the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The legislation repeals a 1982 voter law known as Chapter 503, which requires any new nuclear power plant to get approval from a majority of voters through a statewide ballot initiative. Gov. Maura Healey also included the provision in her energy affordability legislation (H 4144).
The law also requires both branches of the Legislature to vote to certify that it has made several findings, including: there is a federally-licensed facility for “timely and economical permanent” disposal of high-level radioactive wastes; the state has an adequate emergency preparedness plan for the proposed plant; the state promulgates effective emission standards to protect the public against radioactive air pollutants tied to the nuclear plant; there is federally-approved technology or way to decommission, dismantle and dispose the plant; and the plant offers offers the “optimal means of meeting energy needs” from several standpoints.
“There’s nothing in that law that shouldn’t be met before there’s any new nuclear power,” Diane Turco, director of Cape Downwinders told the News Service.
When asked about repealing the law, a spokesperson for Rep. Mark Cusack, House chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, said it aligns with Healey’s “all of the above” approach to energy sources — including nuclear — that’s aimed at lowering bills.
In the preamble of her energy legislation unveiled last May, Healey said repealing the law would eliminate “a major barrier to the consideration of new small modular reactors that could improve reliability, stabilize prices, and decarbonize the region’s power grid.”
Energy safety advocates noted that nuclear power shouldn’t be treated like any power source because of radiation it emits that harms not only people, but also the environment. In a letter to senators, they said nuclear waste must be isolated from the environment for more than 10,000 years and all reactors release radiation during standard operations. It can also take decades for the effects of radiation to be noticed.
The Trump administration has slashed federal regulations surrounding nuclear power plants in an effort to position the U.S. as a global leader in nuclear energy. And advocates argue it’s all the more important that Massachusetts prioritize safety and continue allowing citizens’ input on new nuclear projects.
“There are more sustainable energy sources than nuclear ready to go to scale right now. They are a better investment than a radioactive hypothetical offered by an industry with a history of cost overruns and contamination, in a deteriorating and dangerous federal regulatory climate,” according to the coalition, which includes groups like the Clamshell Alliance, Our Revolution Massachusetts and Save Our Bay Massachusetts.
The letter was also signed by Massachusetts Chapter of The Sierra Club, Mass. Power Forward and Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Massachusetts currently has no nuclear plants. Its last one, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, ceased operations in 2019 and is being decommissioned.
Chapter 503 was enacted when voters in eight states and other major cities called for a worldwide nuclear freeze amid Cold War tensions and a few years after the partial nuclear meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, per the New York Times reporting.
Healey reminded lawmakers at a budget hearing in February that she grew up near Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire and “in the aftermath maybe of Three Mile Island.”
“I understand, like, people’s visceral response and concern about nuclear power,” she said. “I also know that technology’s evolved.”
During the hearing, Healey spoke about emerging small modular nuclear and fusion technologies and appeared open to discussions.
“I think we should be exploring all of these things and supporting all of these things. I do think, in fairness about any vote to the residents, it’s our responsibility as electeds to have that conversation, to answer questions, and to make sure that there is education about this,” she said. “Because, you know, there’s real concerns not just with leaks and the spectacle of disasters, but just storage of spent fuel, right, which needs to be accounted for, which we need to address. So, I’d like to see us continue with those discussions.”
Compared with large power reactors, small nuclear reactors are considered cheaper, smaller and generally safer, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
But advocates are wary of the technology, saying in their letter to senators “this hurried rush toward SMRs begs many unanswerable questions.” They say the technology is still experimental and it’s not clear how much toxic waste the small nuclear reactors would create or if they are more affordable.
“If nuclear is to be part of the solution, it will be because we are clear eyed about what it can actually deliver, not what we hope it might,” said Ann Darling, with the Citizens Awareness Network.
Since 2021, Montana, West Virginia and Illinois have repealed laws restricting the construction of new nuclear facilities in the state, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Massachusetts is one of 11 states, including Rhode Island and Vermont, with restrictions or outright bans on nuclear development in place.
Senate President Karen Spilka has said energy is one of the major policies the chamber hopes to take up before it dives into its fiscal 2027 budget proposal in the coming weeks. She has offered little insight into her thoughts about the state’s energy policy, one of the biggest issues percolating on Beacon Hill this session.
“The Senate President is grateful to every advocate raising their voice on such an important challenge, and she looks forward to the Senate advancing legislation that lowers costs while upholding our commitment to the planet,” Gray Milkowski, a spokesperson for Spilka, said in a statement to the News Services when asked about repealing Chapter 503.