Submitted by R. Thurston Clark
(May 12, 2025) — As many of you know, decades ago (1968), there was an “small” atomic power plant on the meadows along the river in Haddam Neck. When that plant was closed down, an effort was made to dispose of nuclear waste/spent fuel. The U.S. government had made a commitment to the atomic power plants in this country that they would find sites to place the spent fuel in; however in the 1990’s they refused any further nuclear waste saying there no longer was any site willing to take the waste.
So, Connecticut Yankee was left with spent fuel that it had to store on-site. The Connecticut utilities sued the government in 2021, many to recover their costs to store the spent fuel; for example, in Haddam Neck there are staff on duty 24/7 guarding the spent fuel.
Once a year the “Connecticut Yankee Fuel Storage Advisory Committee” has a meeting that is open to the public. The most recent one occurred on May 5, 2025. There were fewer than 30 people in attendance, most of whom were government or utility staff members.
Some highlights of the meeting:
- The spent fuel storage site comprises a very small part of the Connecticut Yankee property in Haddam Neck, but they have no plans to release/open up any part of the property to the town/public.
- The Trump administration plans to reduce staff by 25% at the Department of Energy, which monitors the spent fuel program.
- Some of the canisters that hold the spent fuel above ground on a platform have “water intrusion,” many due to their age.
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a site inspection for August 18, 2025.
- In March 2025, staff at the site witnessed drone flyovers. They notified the NRC, FAA, FBI, and Connecticut DEEP (Department of Energy and Environmental Protection).
