[Webstral]

There are several nuke plants operating in New England at the time of the Exchange. EMP damages the electronics managing the reactors. Emergency shutdowns go into effect. By the time the dust clears, qualified personnel are hard to find. In places that suffer the most from the breakdown in order, like New England, qualified personnel are extremely hard to find. Specialized parts and equipment also are hard to come by from 1998 onward. Where there are multiple nuke plants and/or where civil disorder is relatively light, it may be possible to consolidate personnel and fabricate replacement equipment. Thus Colorado has a functioning nuke plant. New England got hammered by the breakdown in social order. I’m an optimist, and I only have 30% of the pre-war population of about 12 million still living. Howling Wilderness puts that number even lower (one has to infer).

Referring to my own work (as always), one of the plot twists I have considered for Poseidon’s Rifles is the idea that a number of nuke plant engineers and technicians from Vermont Yankee are alive and well in southern Vermont. With them, First District (USCG) probably could restart Maine Yankee in Wiscasset. Unfortunately for First District, the engineers in question are residing in the United Communities of Southern Vermont (UCSV), which is under the protection of the Black Watch. The Black Watch is a group of pre-Exchange survivalists who hold grudges. They have a grudge with the 43rd MP Brigade, the State of Vermont, the State of New Hampshire, and Milgov. There are some folks in upstate New York they don’t like much, either. They actually like the United Brotherhood of Fishermen, who infrequently but regularly come up the Connecticut River to trade fish and manufactured goods for greenhouse products, maple sugar, and cottage crafts produced in the UCSV. The odds that the Black Watch would cooperate with First District, whom they would consider agents of Milgov, are long. PCs could have an interesting time getting the required personnel from southern Vermont to coastal Maine.

If First District could bring the 900 MW Maine Yankee reactor back online at even 20% capacity (180 MW), it would be a game changer. Fertilizers and fuel could flow out of First District in considerable quantities. It might be enough to change the relationship between First District and Milgov. Nitrates for ammunition also would be an important product.

Of course, none of the above is canon.