CHEBEAGUE ISLAND — On a hot summer day, the view from the lawn in front of Susan Stranahan’s converted early 20th century cottage is idyllic. Low-lying rocky islands seem to rise from the still water just beyond the lush greenery that lines the shore.
But from another part of this Casco Bay island, there’s a view of a squat power plant with a massive smokestack. It’s a splash of reality, a reminder that even islands rely on electricity that is often produced in dangerous ways, or at least in ways that require compromises.
Stranahan knows something about these compromises and the inherent threats they pose. She was a reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1979 when the Three Mile Island nuclear plant suffered a partial melt-down, the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. The experience molded her. Today, 13 years after leaving the newspaper and five years after settling on Chebeague, Stranahan is finishing a book on the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan.
She also is one of two mentors for The Working Waterfront/Island Institute’s student journalism program. She sat down for an interview with The Working Waterfront on June 25.