A Case Study in Radioactive Waste Management

The nuclear industry and its politician-apologists claim that nuclear power is clean. Tell that to the communities that deal with its toxic legacy—radioactive waste!

All nuclear power stations create what the industry wants to call “low-level” waste. What’s in it? How radioactive is it? How dangerous is it? Where does it go? What happens when it gets there?

CAN is investigating the answers to these questions in collaboration with students and faculty from Worcester Polytech and UMass-Amherst. Take a look at the “storymap” below for the first installment of the story of low-level waste. And stay tuned for more!

Act Today to Save Tomorrow

Will Gov. Healey's poisoned pill become the poisoned pill of the MA legislation, bringing dirty nuclear back to the Commonwealth?

Public Hearing Notice

When: Tuesday, July 29, 2025 from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
Where: MA State House, Boston (map), Hearing Room A1 and virtual.
What: The Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy will be holding a hybrid public hearing on Offshore Wind, Clean Energy, & Energy Storage legislation.

Individuals who wish to testify in-person or virtually may register to do so by filling out this form by 3:00 PM on Monday, July 28, 2025. Testimony is limited to three minutes per person. You will receive a Teams invitation and further instructions on how to participate virtually a day before the hearing.

CAN is opposing the following four bills:

S.2258: Resolve establishing a commission to consider the inclusion of nuclear energy in Massachusetts future energy planning (John J. Cronin).

H.3512: An Act establishing a special legislative commission to study small modular reactors (Jones, Jr., Bradley H).

H.3569: An Act relative to carbon emission reduction and advanced nuclear energy generation (Aaron L. Saunders).

H.3571: Resolve establishing a commission to consider the inclusion of nuclear energy in Massachusetts' future energy planning (Margaret R. Scarsdale).

Please help us oppose these four bills, promoted by Gov. Healey.
Nuclear power is not clean!

CAN is supporting bill S.2237

S.2237: An Act defining clean energy (Joanne M. Comerford)

Please support Joanne Comerford's “Act Defining Clean Energy,” which would amend the recently passed “Act promoting a clean energy grid, advancing equity, and protecting ratepayers” (the “2024 Mass Climate Law”) to remove nuclear fusion from the Massachusetts renewable portfolio standard.

See 3rd column (click on the fact sheet below):
An Act Defining Clean Energy will ensure Massachusetts will meet its climate goals with energy that is truly safe, clean, and renewable.

Write your testimony now!

 The Meltdown in Democracy!

Governor Healey is pushing legislation that embraces nuclear power and undermines the democratic process by repealing a law that requires a referendum on nuclear power before any reactor can be built in the state! Healey doesn't want the voters to decide what a "clean" energy future looks like. This legislation is on a fast track! It’s important that Healey and our legislators know that this is unacceptable.

It's a slap in the face to Massachusetts' communities that have borne nuclear power's assault on their lives and undermined their waterways, air, and land. Our communities are stuck with high level radioactive waste dumps—vulnerable to acts of malice and climate disruption.

Last year Healey got the legislature to designate nuclear as “clean.”
There’s nothing clean about nuclear waste. We fought hard to shutter six out of nine reactors in New England including the two operating in Massachusetts. We shut Vermont Yankee, CT Yankee, and Millstone Unit 1, as well as Maine Yankee. The people did it! We can’t let dirty nuclear control our state and once again undermine our waterways and abandon its toxic waste in our communities. We must stop the industry again!

Stop the Meltdown in Democracy!

Bill H.4144—An Act relative to energy affordability, independence and innovation: https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/H4144

See the bottom of page 2 of Healey's letter to the committee, recommending nuclear to include in the legislation relative to energy affordability, independence, and innovation:

"In Massachusetts, in addition to requiring rigorous federal, state, and local approvals through formal siting and licensing processes that require public input, any proposed new nuclear fission facility must also secure approval via a statewide ballot initiative with a majority vote. No other generation source in the state requires this statewide ballot initiative approval. This Act would repeal a 1982 law that mandates that any new nuclear facility receive approval through a statewide ballot initiative, eliminating a major barrier to the consideration of new small modular reactors that could improve reliability, stabilize prices, and decarbonize the region’s power grid. Since 2020, eight of the 14 states with a nuclear moratorium or similar provisions have either fully or partially lifted limitations on building new nuclear and three more states are exploring it."