The Edgecomb-based environmental advocacy group, Friends of the Coast, hosted French video journalist, Bernard Nicolas and cameraman Christophe Espenan, on September 5 and 6. 

The Arte network television team was on the Midcoast to get a glimpse of the Maine’s nuclear aftermath; the stewardship of approximately 900 tons of high level nuclear fuel waste now stored under armed guard at the former Maine Yankee Atomic Power Station site in Wiscasset.

Nicholas and Espenan were accompanied by translator Linda Pentz Gunter, who is media and development director and an international specialist at Beyond Nuclear, a safe power advocacy organization headquartered in Takoma Park, Md. 

The team interviewed Eric Howes, Public and Governmental Affairs Director of Maine Yankee; Patrick Dostie, Maine State Nuclear Safety Inspector; Jay Hyland, Director of Radiation Protection; and Raymond Shadis, Executive Director of Friends of the Coast; as well as “on-the-street” interviews with passers-by in Wiscasset.

Following their visit, the crew traveled to Vermont to video-record in the vicinity of Vermont Yankee, where despite a federal license renewal in 2011, prospects for continued operation are clouded by strong opposition from Vermont’s governor and legislature, as well as ongoing legal challenges. 

The documentary is expected to air on French and German television before year’s end. 

Bernard Nicholas explained that there is strong interest in U.S. nuclear decommissioning and waste storage experience in France and Germany as a large number of commercial nuclear power reactors are slated for shutdown and dismantlement there.