The Montague Nuclear Power Plant was a proposed nuclear power plant to be located in Montague, Massachusetts. The plant was to consist of two 1150 MWe General Electric boiling water reactors. The project was proposed in 1973 and canceled in 1980, [1] after $29 million was spent on the project. [2]
On 22 February 1974, George Washington's Birthday, organic farmer Sam Lovejoy took a crowbar to the weather-monitoring tower which had been erected at the site on the Montague Plains. Lovejoy felled 349 feet of the 550-foot tower and then took himself to the local police station, where he presented a statement in which he took full responsibility for the action. Lovejoy went on trial in September 1974 on charges of malicious destruction, but was acquitted on a technicality. [2] [3] Lovejoy's action galvanized local public opinion against the plant which ended the project entirely. [2] [3]
In 1975, Green Mountain Post Films made Lovejoy's Nuclear War which told the story of the tower toppling and subsequent trial. The documentary film was instrumental in organizing the anti-nuclear movement. Lovejoy, and other members of the Montague Farm commune, such as Anna Gyorgy and Harvey Wasserman, helped to form the Clamshell Alliance anti-nuclear group. In 1977, the Clamshell Alliance was involved in a series of mass protests against the proposed Seabrook, NH twin nuclear plants. The series of protests occupying the proposed site of the Seabrook nuclear power reactor in New Hampshire resulted in over 1,400 arrests, garnered national publicity and inspired nuclear opposition groups in other parts of the United States. [4]
Green Mountain Post Films, composed of producers Dan Keller and Charles Light (also Montague Farm commune members, went on to make The Last Resort, Early Warnings, Save the Planet, Training for Nonviolence and other films that helped organize a national anti-nuclear movement.
Lovejoy went on to become President of Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) which organized five nights of benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in 1979, featuring artist such as Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Crosby, Stills and Nash and a host of other music stars. MUSE also staged a 250,000 person rally on what later became Battery Park City in lower Manhattan.
A total of 63 nuclear units were canceled in the USA between 1975 and 1980. [5] Many nuclear plant proposals were no longer viable due to the downturn of electricity demand, significant cost and time overruns, and more complex regulatory requirements. Also, there was considerable public opposition to nuclear power in the US by this time. [6]
Musicians United for Safe Energy, or MUSE, is an activist group founded in 1979 by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Harvey Wasserman and John Hall. The group advocates against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in March 1979. MUSE organized a series of five No Nukes concerts held at Madison Square Garden in New York in September 1979. On September 23, 1979, almost 200,000 people attended a large rally staged by MUSE on the then-empty north end of the Battery Park City landfill in New York.
The Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, more commonly known as Seabrook Station, is a nuclear power plant located in Seabrook, New Hampshire, United States, approximately 40 miles (64 km) north of Boston and 10 miles (16 km) south of Portsmouth. It has operated since 1990. With its 1,244-megawatt electrical output, Seabrook Unit 1 is the largest individual electrical generating unit on the New England power grid. It is the second largest nuclear plant in New England after the two-unit Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Connecticut.
The Clamshell Alliance is an anti-nuclear organization founded in 1976 to oppose the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The alliance has been dormant for many years.
The Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant was a completed General Electric nuclear boiling water reactor located adjacent to Long Island Sound in East Shoreham, New York.
The Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant was a nuclear power plant proposed by the Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) in May 1973. It was cancelled in 1982.
The Abalone Alliance (1977–1985) was a nonviolent civil disobedience group formed to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast in the United States. They modeled their affinity group-based organizational structure after the Clamshell Alliance which was then protesting the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in coastal New Hampshire. The group of activists took the name "Abalone Alliance" referring to the tens of thousands of wild California Red Abalone that were killed in 1974 in Diablo Cove when the unit's plumbing had its first hot flush.
Nuclear history of the United States describes the history of nuclear affairs in the United States whether civilian or military.
The anti-nuclear movement in the United States consists of more than 80 anti-nuclear groups that oppose nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and/or uranium mining. These have included the Abalone Alliance, Clamshell Alliance, Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, Nevada Desert Experience, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Plowshares Movement, United Steelworkers of America (USWA) District 31, Women Strike for Peace, Nukewatch, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Some fringe aspects of the anti-nuclear movement have delayed construction or halted commitments to build some new nuclear plants, and have pressured the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to enforce and strengthen the safety regulations for nuclear power plants. Most groups in the movement focus on nuclear weapons.
The 1970s proved to be a pivotal period for the anti-nuclear movement in California. Opposition to nuclear power in California coincided with the growth of the country's environmental movement. Opposition to nuclear power increased when President Richard Nixon called for the construction of 1000 nuclear plants by the year 2000.
Paul Gunter is a co-founder of the Clamshell Alliance anti-nuclear group, who was arrested at Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant for non-violent civil disobedience on several occasions. An energy policy analyst and activist, he has been a vocal critic of nuclear power for more than 30 years. Gunter worked as the Director of the Reactor Watchdog Project for Nuclear Information and Resource Service for almost 20 years. In 2007, Gunter joined Beyond Nuclear as their nuclear reactor specialist. He has made many national and international television, radio, and conference appearances and is quoted in the press.
More than 80 anti-nuclear groups are operating, or have operated, in the United States. These include Abalone Alliance, Clamshell Alliance, Greenpeace USA, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Musicians United for Safe Energy, Nevada Desert Experience, Nuclear Control Institute, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Public Citizen Energy Program, Shad Alliance, and the Sierra Club. These are direct action, environmental, health, and public interest organizations who oppose nuclear weapons and/or nuclear power. In 1992, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that "his agency had been pushed in the right direction on safety issues because of the pleas and protests of nuclear watchdog groups".
Lionel Delevingne is an author, journalist, and photojournalist who has lived in the United States since 1975. According to Véronique Prévost of Figaro/Journal Français, "Delevingne is beholden to the lineage of great picture journalists, and his talent, if not his inspiration, makes you think of the master of the genre, Cartier-Bresson."
The Sundesert Nuclear Power Plant was a proposed California nuclear power station, formally submitted in 1976. Facing firm opposition from the state's Governor Jerry Brown and denied a permit by a state agency, plans for the construction of the power facility were rejected in 1978 after 100 million dollars had been spent towards its construction. The Sundesert proposal was the last major attempt to build a nuclear plant in California.
The Forked River Nuclear Power Plant was a proposed nuclear power plant in Lacey Township in Ocean County, New Jersey. It was proposed as a single 1,070 MW reactor in 1969 to be built by Combustion Engineering and operated by Jersey Central Power and Light. The facility would have been located on a site between JCP&L's existing Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station and the Garden State Parkway. Unlike the Oyster Creek Plant, the Forked River Plant would have a cooling tower to prevent the release of hot water into Oyster Creek and Barnegat Bay.
The Greene County Nuclear Power Plant was proposed in 1974 by the Power Authority of the State of New York. A single 1,212 MWe Babcock & Wilcox pressurized water reactor was to be built approximately 5 miles south of Catskill, New York on the western shore of the Hudson River, but the plant proposal was canceled in 1979, largely due to concerns over social and economic disruptions to the local communities.
The Haven Nuclear Power Plant was a proposed nuclear power plant in Haven, Wisconsin north of Sheboygan at the site of closed military camp called Camp Haven. The power plant was proposed in the 1970s by Wisconsin Electric, but was never built. Two 900 MWe Westinghouse pressurized water reactor were proposed in 1973. Reactor one was canceled in 1978 and reactor two was canceled in 1980. After plans never materialized, the Kohler Company purchased the site. Construction of the Whistling Straits golf course began in 1995.
The application of nuclear technology, both as a source of energy and as an instrument of war, has been controversial.
The politics of New England has long been defined by the region's political and cultural history, demographics, economy, and its loyalty to particular U.S. political parties. Within the politics of the United States, New England is sometimes viewed in terms of a single voting bloc. All of the twenty-one congressional districts in New England are currently represented by Democrats. In the Senate, nine Democrats, two Independents, and one Republican represent New England. The Democratic candidate has won a plurality of votes in every State in New England in every presidential election since 2004, making the region considerably more Democratic than the rest of the nation.
Anti-nuclear protests in the United States have occurred since the development of nuclear power plants in the United States. Examples include Clamshell Alliance protests at Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant, Abalone Alliance protests at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, and those following the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.
