I’ve gotta hand it to Gov. Maura Healey. She’s running a sharp strategy to get nuclear power back in the mix of Massachusetts power sources.

Last legislative session, it was sneaking a provision that redefined nuclear power as “clean” into a high-stakes, last-minute bill that was also chock full of good things that lots of people wanted. In fact, nuclear power is filthy; the radioactive waste it creates contaminates and kills for generations.

Now this year, the governor has included provisions in a bill to lower consumer utility bills that would allow the re-introduction of nuclear power in our state. This new bill is a wrong turn on the governor’s part, and an undemocratic one.

In 1982, in a referendum that won in every county two-to-one, Massachusetts voters said no new nuclear power in our state without a statewide vote and only under certain conditions, one of which was that there be a permanent repository for the forever-toxic radioactive waste created by nuclear power.

More than 40 years after that referendum, no such repository exists, and there is virtually no federal activity in that direction.

The governor couldn’t win with a vote under the current law, so she just wants to repeal it. Gov. Healey says this would not be a return to “old-school” nuclear like the Pilgrim station near Boston or Yankee Rowe here in western Massachusetts. 

Instead, she touts it as bringing in cutting edge, small-scale nuclear technology. And it’s all bundled up in a bill she says will set market conditions that will lower consumers’ utility bills.

There are at least three things wrong here. First of all, the bill that passed at the end of last year’s session incentivized long-term contracts with two “old-school” reactors on our borders, Seabrook and Millstone.

The governor doesn’t want “old-school” here, but she is all for redefining what is considered “clean” energy and wholeheartedly going after power from “old-school” in our neighbors’ backyards.

Second, the “cutting edge” nuclear technology the governor’s talking about doesn’t exist yet. Yes, there are some small modular reactors in development, but they are not being manufactured and have not been brought to scale; this is years down the road.

And oh, by the way, they also leave us with a legacy of radioactive waste to hand down to our grandchildren — and beyond.

Third, don’t be confused by the governor’s rhetoric and think that nuclear will lower your electric bill.

Nuclear power is the most expensive way to produce electricity on the planet, and there has never been a new nuclear project, no matter how “cutting edge,” that has been completed on time and within budget.

I don’t envy the governor; the state is in a bind, with slow progress toward climate goals, wind power wobbling, and Trump kicking it while it’s down.

But nuclear is the wrong direction. To put it simply, true climate solutions are not radioactive. 

Ann Darling is a member of Citizen Awareness Network and lives in Easthampton.