THE CLOSING OF THE YANKEE ROWE NUCLEAR-POWER-PLANT - THE IMPACT ON A NEW-ENGLAND COMMUNITY

America's nuclear power companies, for the first time, face reduced de mand and a resulting decline in generating capacity that will affect n ot only the industry, but also the communities that have become depend ent on the ''nuclear economy.'' Across the United States there are 111 nuclear plants; approximately twenty are expected to close by the yea r 2012 (Pasqualetti 1991a, Allen 1996). While many Americans applaud t his trend, the fact remains that the closings will bring extensive eco nomic hardships to the communities and regions where the plants are lo cated. This paper is a case study of the local effects from the closin g of Yankee Atomic Electric Company's nuclear power plant in Rowe, Mas sachusetts. The authors conclude that decisions to close nuclear power plants are highly unlikely to consider the local impacts that may occ ur. The paper is intended as a start toward understanding how the clos ings of nuclear power plants affect local and regional economies, and considers the role that the federal and state governments can have in helping communities shift to a non-nuclear economic base. Kotval, AICP , is an assistant professor of urban and regional planning at Michigan State University. She is the author of several articles and reports. Her expertise is in economic impact assessments, fiscal impact analysi s, quantitative methods, and economic development and planning. Mullin , AICP, is a professor of urban planning in the Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Department at the University of Massachusetts. He has an extensive research and planning consultation practice concen trating on industrial development, economic impact assessment, histori c preservation, urban revitalization, and waterfront redevelopment.