A Naples lawmaker wants the Legislature to consider bringing nuclear power back to Maine at a time when high electricity costs are stretching household budgets.

Rep. Mark Walker (R-Naples) is sponsoring LD 689, “An Act to Study the Construction of a Nuclear Power Facility in the State.”

“I’m always intrigued by technology,” Walker said. “Around the world, there are more and more applications of nuclear technology. We all kind of realize that to have a well-functioning society we need reliable energy.”

Maine’s only nuclear power plant, Maine Yankee in Wiscasset, closed 27 years ago following years of opposition from environmental groups. 

The plant opened in 1972 and stayed open despite three citizen initiatives — 1980, 1987, 1992 — that were designed to force it to close.

Ultimately, cracks were discovered in the steam generator tubes and the company voted to close it permanently.

Even today, there are storage tanks on site containing spent nuclear fuel.

Walker’s proposal — which will be considered by the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday — comes at a time when Maine’s energy future is on the minds of ratepayers and political leaders.

Residential customers saw their electric bills jump in January, with Central Maine Power customers paying an average of an additional $32 per month and Versant Power customers seeing an average increase of $21 per month, according to the Governor’s Energy Office.

In her annual address to the Legislature last month, Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, set a goal to require 100% of the state’s electricity to come from clean energy by 2040.

She said New England is overly reliant on natural gas and vulnerable to price hikes caused by international incidents such as the war in Ukraine.

“Every year, Maine people send more than $4 billion out-of-state to line the pockets and the profits of big fossil fuel companies, money that could be better spent here at home, while our families and our environment remain at their mercy,” she said.

The administration also recently outlined a plan to move forward with a research array of floating wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine, another attempt to expand and diversify potential energy sources.

That proposal brough swift pushback from many Republicans and the lobster industry, which argues that more research is needed to understand the impacts to wildlife.

Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford), a co-sponsor of Walker’s bill, said every form of energy has “collateral costs” so it makes sense to at least explore the idea of nuclear power.

“We need to update ourselves on all the possibilities with generation,” he said. “There’s been new technology, new developments. I just think it’s a good time to look at the entire mix.”

Dan Burgess, director of the Governor’s Energy Office, said Walker’s bill does not yet include enough detail for the administration to comment on it.

But he said as his office looks to move away from fossil fuels, “our work to date has not included a focus on new nuclear deployment in Maine nor are we aware of any proposals in locating a new nuclear site in Maine.”

Walker said he realizes the potential political divide between Democrats and Republicans but hopes those ideologies can be set aside to consider the idea.

“As a Republican, I’m going to be more defensive of fossil fuels,” he said. “I hope the Democrats can put their concerns on the back burner and Republicans can back-burner their allegiance to fossil fuels.”

This story was updated at 2:50 p.m. March 3, 2023, to correct the name of the community Rick Bennett represents.