Thinly populated and lacking major transportation hubs, Maine may seem an unlikely target for the sort of terrorism the nation has seen in the last month. But just as hijackers apparently saw the Portland jetport as a low-risk place to begin part of their murderous attack, so too do the state’s friendly nature and the 1,400 spent nuclear fuel rod assemblies at Maine Yankee offer an inviting means for further mayhem.

Security at the closed nuclear power station in Wiscasset already has been tightened, according to a spokesman there. But local officials are publicly wondering about the effectiveness of the security – as are members of the state’s congressional delegation – and Gov. King is considering whether to deploy the National Guard there. Given the hijackings and anthrax poisonings, heightened security at Yankee is a fair and needed precaution, and if the Guard can provide improved security the governor should call on it.

Gov. King also has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to remove the fuel rods from Wiscasset, a request that probably won’t be met because the NRC has no place to put them, a problem it has had for decades. Still, it is good that the governor asked because, while security regularly has been cited as a reason for finding long-term repositories for the spent fuel from plants all over the country, the danger has often been seen as theoretical, something that may be an issue sometime in the distant future.

Now the nation lives in a time in which civilian airplanes are weapons of mass destruction and the Senate majority leader can be mailed anthrax. Though there have been no reports of terrorists trying to break into nuclear plants, the danger of such an event no longer seems so distant and a highly secure permanent central storage facility would be a comforting thing to have right now. Governors nationwide should be reminding the NRC of its obligation to provide such a site.

Meanwhile, adding more obvious security at Maine Yankee is a prudent step that could help keep the nuclear fuel rods safer and allow everyone in Maine to feel a little calmer.