Fifty years ago in 1968, the Atomic Age came to the lower Connecticut River with the commissioning of the Connecticut Yankee nuclear power plant in Haddam Neck. Construction of the 619- megawatt facility was begun in 1965, following intense debate about the plant’s impact on the environment, especially thermal pollution from the discharge of heated condenser water. Connecticut Yankee was the first nuclear power plant in Connecticut, and among the earliest in the nation. To mark the anniversary, we dug into our files and came up with these photographs of the building of the plant in the mid-60s, in which Mohawk Indian ironworkers, known for their expertise in high steel, were brought in to erect the 170-foot domed containment structure.