WISCASSET — Few in this once bustling shipbuilding center along the Sheepscot River expected Maine Yankee to live forever, but fewer figured their neighborhood nuclear plant would talk about dying so soon.

Wiscasset, which for years has depended on Maine Yankee for nearly its entire budget, is facing the prospect of losing its most valuable business. The plant’s owners say they’re going to cut back and consider permanently closing it, although they stress no final decision has been made.

If a buyer cannot be found or another option worked out for the 24-year-old plant, which has been shut down for repairs since Dec. 6, 1996, the go-ahead to pull the plug for good could come as early as this fall, board chairman David Flanagan said.

Schools could be the hardest hit if that happens. The 1,200-student district gets about 90 percent of its budget from Maine Yankee, a bonanza that has allowed the school system to become the envy of the region.

“Instead of cutting music and art and gifted and talented and you name it, we have it,” Superintendent Charles Batchelder said Wednesday. “Are they essential or not? Well, they’re not essential in other places, but we’ll have to find out how important they are here.”

For years, Wiscasset has accepted hundreds of students from smaller, less wealthy towns and subsidized their tuition. The district’s per-pupil spending is now $6,000 for elementary pupils and more than $9,000 for high school students, both nearly double the state average.

Salaries for the district’s 100 teachers also are among the tops in the state, Batchelder said.

Plans had been developed in expectation of the plant closing in 2008, when its license expires. Those included reducing staff and limiting the influx of out-of-town students.

The town of about 3,000 residents hasn’t been scrimpy on spending money, either.

First Selectman Larry Gordon said the town spends from $500,000 to $700,000 a year on maintenance and has $13 million socked away in a reserve account for construction.

Property taxes on homes are well below the rate charged in neighboring communities. Gordon said that while taxes on a three-bedroom house in Wiscasset might cost about $550, they’re at least double in some other places.

Wiscasset, with an annual budget of around $13 million, gets about $10 million from Maine Yankee.

“I have no doubt in my mind we can do a lot of cutting,” Gordon said.

If Maine Yankee does close, it wouldn’t necessarily be the end of Wiscasset, town officials say. There’s still the property, which plant owners say is valued at $345 million, and Wiscasset could expect to get more state taxes back than it does now.

The plant’s owners are immediately dismissing 900 contractors brought in to repair the facility, which has been plagued by safety and operational problems. Another 500 full-time jobs are at stake.