The Future of Nuclear Host Communities

A growing number of U.S. nuclear power plants are threatened with early retirement as the combination of rising operating costs, and low electricity prices, have eroded the nuclear industry’s profits. The reactors are often the economic life blood of the mostly rural communities where they’re located.  When they close, many good paying jobs, and generous funding for school and community services disappear. And, unlike most one-company towns, nuclear host communities are burdened with a legacy of nuclear waste that can create barriers to redevelopment.

Guests Jennifer Stromsten, Program Director with the Institute of Nuclear Host Communities, and Saqib Rahim, an E&E News reporter who’s written extensively on nuclear plant closures, discuss community efforts to navigate the closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear station in southern Vermont. They also look at the impact that the ongoing storage of nuclear waste at the site is having on efforts to redevelop, and initiatives at the state and national level to give communities more say in the decommissioning process and, by extension, control over their path forward.

guest

Saqib Rahim

Reporter, E&E News

Saqib Rahim is a reporter with E&E News who has written at length about Vermont Yankee and the legacy of nuclear plant closures.

guest

Jennifer Stromsten

Program Director, Institute of Nuclear Host Communities

Jennifer Stromsten is program director with the Institute of Nuclear Host Communities and works for the economic development agency that serves the region surrounding Entergy Corporation’s Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

host

Andy Stone

Energy Policy Now Host and Producer

Andy Stone is producer and host of Energy Policy Now, the Kleinman Center’s podcast series. He previously worked in business planning with PJM Interconnection and was a senior energy reporter at Forbes Magazine.