Montague Nuclear Power Plant

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, Washington's Birthday, organic farmer Sam Lovejoy took a crowbar to the weather-monitoring tower which had been erected at the Montague site. 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.^[2][3]

In 1975, Lovejoy made the first documentary film to emerge on the anti-nuclear movement, and Lovejoy's story, called Lovejoy's Nuclear War. He later helped to form the Clamshell Alliance anti-nuclear group. In 1977, the Clamshell Alliance was involved in a series of mass protests against utilities attempting to build nuclear power plants, occupying the proposed site of the Seabrook nuclear power reactor in New Hampshire. This series of protests, which resulted in 1,400 arrests, inspired nuclear opposition groups in other parts of the United States.^[4]

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 increases, significant cost and time overruns, and more complex regulatory requirements. Also, there was considerable public opposition to nuclear power in the USA by this time.^[6]

See also

• Anti-nuclear protests in the United States
• List of books about nuclear issues
• List of canceled nuclear plants in the United States
• Nuclear power debate
• Nuclear power in the United States
• Allen Young (writer)

References

1. ↑ Some of the Major Events in NU's History Since the 1966 Affiliation
2. 1 2 3 Utilities Drop Nuclear Power Plant Plans Ocala Star-Banner, January 4, 1981.
3. 1 2 Anna Gyorgy (1980). No Nukes: Everyone's Guide to Nuclear Power South End Press, ISBN 0-89608-006-4, pp. 393-394.
4. ↑ Lisa Lynch (2012). "'We don't wanna be radiated:' Documentary Film and the Evolving Rhetoric of Nuclear Energy Activism" (PDF). American Literature Ecocriticism Issue. 
5. ↑ The Changing Structure of the Electric Power Industry p. 110.
6. ↑ Nuclear power: Futures, Costs, and Benefits p. 16.

Anti-nuclear movement
Protests and groups	Anti-nuclear organizations Anti-nuclear power groups Anti-nuclear protests Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Greenpeace International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons International Day against Nuclear Tests International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Mayors for Peace Nuclear Information and Resource Service Nevada Desert Experience Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign Peace Action and SANE Physicians for Social Responsibility Pembina Institute Sortir du nucléaire World Uranium Hearing
By country	Australia Austria Canada France Germany India Japan Kazakhstan New Zealand Philippines Poland Russia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Turkey United Kingdom United States
People	Tadatoshi Akiba Daniel Berrigan Albert Bigelow Helen Caldicott Norman Cousins Gordon Edwards Albert Einstein Randall Forsberg John Gofman Jim Green Paul Gunter Otto Hahn Nobuto Hosaka Jackie Hudson Kate Hudson Ole Kopreitan David Lange Amory Lovins Caroline Lucas Freda Meissner-Blau Gregory Minor Hermann Joseph Muller Kenzaburō Ōe Linus Pauling Mike Pentz C. F. Powell Adi Roche Joseph Rotblat Tilman Ruff Bertrand Russell Jens Scheer Jonathan Schell Christopher Weeramantry
Media	Books about nuclear issues Films about nuclear issues Nuclear holocaust fiction Nuclear weapons in popular culture Songs about nuclear war and weapons
Related topics	Anti-war movement Bikini Atoll Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists France and weapons of mass destruction Göttingen Manifesto History of the anti-nuclear movement International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents Mainau Declaration Nuclear-Free Future Award Nuclear-free zone Nuclear power debate Nuclear power phase-out Nuclear weapons debate Peace activists Otto Hahn Peace Medal Peace movement Peace camp Russell–Einstein Manifesto Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Smiling Sun The Bomb