Grating The Nutmeg

The Connecticut Yankee atomic power plant was one of the earliest commercial nuclear reactors in New England.  Though it was dismantled at the turn of the 21st century, its legacy remains, both for the landscape of the Connecticut River Valley where it once stood, and for contemporary debates about energy today.  This episode explores the plant's life and afterlife, the activists who opposed it, and the promises and perils of nuclear power in the 1960s and today, through the reminiscences of Paul Gionfriddo, a former state legislator and longtime president of People's Action for Clean Energy, a group that has advocated for conservation and renewable energy in Connecticut since the early 1970s.   This episode is presented by Dr. Amrys Williams and Jon Kozak. Williams is a historian of science, technology,and the environment who serves as the Executive Director of the Connecticut League of Museums.  Her recent research projects have focused on anti-nuclear activism, radioecology, and the public interpretation