Governors gather in Lowell to weigh nuclear power's future, as protesters rally outside

The governors of all six New England states met in Lowell on Wednesday for a one-day summit on nuclear power.

Gov. Maura Healey hosted the 2026 New England Regional Nuclear Policy Summit at UMass Lowell's Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy. State leaders and energy experts gathered to discuss advanced nuclear and fusion technology, and whether it can add to the region's power supply and lower electricity bills.

Healey framed the summit as an all-of-the-above energy push. “Massachusetts is taking an all-of-the-above approach to energy because families and businesses need more affordable, reliable power,” she said when the summit was announced in August. “This summit is about bringing people together, looking seriously at these technologies and how they can help lower bills.”

Connecticut was represented by its Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, led by acting commissioner Emma Cimino. Gov. Ned Lamont said the summit would give “stakeholders and communities across the region” a chance to learn about advanced nuclear's potential to contribute to the grid, while also addressing safety, regulatory oversight, community engagement and public trust.

The meeting grew out of a March directive from the region's governors, who told their energy offices to convene a regional session on next-generation nuclear technology and gather input from the public and stakeholders.

The rally outside

A few buildings away, the opposition gathered. The Commonwealth Coalition for Democracy and Safe Energy held a rally outside the UMass Lowell Meehan Student Center from 8 to 10 a.m. Wednesday. Its message to the governors: “Stop the repeal of Chapter 503. Let the people decide.”

Chapter 503 dates to 1982, when Massachusetts voters approved a law setting two conditions before any new fission reactor can be built in the state: public and environmental protections certified by the Legislature, and a majority vote of the public.

Healey has proposed repealing that law as part of her energy legislation, arguing it blocks small modular reactors. The House adopted the repeal language in its version of the bill, H 5175. The bill is now in conference committee.

The coalition says the repeal would hand a 44-year-old voter decision back to the Legislature. It calls small modular reactors untested at commercial scale, and says proven wind and solar can be permitted and built now at lower cost. “Nuclear power is undemocratic, unaffordable, unsustainable, and unsafe,” the group's rally announcement said.

Among the coalition's members are the Clamshell Alliance, which began protesting the Seabrook plant in New Hampshire in the 1970s, and the Citizens Awareness Network, a New England grassroots group.

Why Lowell

The campus was a deliberate choice. UMass Lowell and MIT are home to two of the country's 25 nuclear research reactors, and Massachusetts colleges run workforce training programs for careers in the industry.

What the governors decide to do with any of it comes next. The energy bill carrying the Chapter 503 repeal is still in conference committee.