Senators urge new plan for Pilgrim
The state's two U.S. senators recently stepped into the nuclear safety debate, writing a letter to Entergy Corp. to urge the owner-operator of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to expand the emergency planning zone and develop a realistic evacuation plan should the plant have a radioactive release.
Entergy updated its estimated evacuation times late last year for the 40-year-old plant, based on the latest U.S. Census figures.
Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, both Democrats, said those estimates are based on "highly unrealistic" assumptions.
"Entergy should go back to the drawing board and create a plan that properly takes the realities of weather, traffic, human behavior and other factors into account," states the letter. "Right now, such a real-world plan does not appear to exist."
The company calculates it would take a little over six hours to move residents out of the Emergency Planning Zone, the 10-mile radius directly around Pilgrim.
Those plans assume only 20 percent of Cape residents, those living closest to the two bridges, would attempt to evacuate and slow traffic fleeing Plymouth.
But more than half the Cape residents who responded to a recent survey conducted by the company said they would evacuate in a nuclear accident even if they were told they didn't have to.
"We are concerned that Entergy's underlying estimation of the time it would take to evacuate the Emergency Planning Zone contains so many unrealistic assumptions that it is likely those on Cape could be trapped for far longer than is envisioned, to the potential detriment of their health and safety," said the senators.
The senators lobbied to extend the emergency planning zone to a 50-mile radius, which would include all of the Cape. Currently formal emergency plans are drawn up for only the 10-mile radius.
Entergy would not comment Monday, other than to confirm the company had received the letter and was preparing a response.
Falmouth resident William Maurer, a member of the anti-nuclear group Cape Downwinders, was pleased Markey and Warren were pressing Entergy for better plans but said the senators didn't take the issue far enough.
"The only thing they left out was asking Entergy to close the plant, because we don't think any plan they can come up with can protect the health and welfare of the people of Cape Cod," Maurer said.
"The conclusion I've come to is the Cape is acceptable collateral damage."
Diane Turco, of Harwich, co-founder of the Cape Downwinders, said the group's goal is to shut Pilgrim down.
"The Markey-Warren letter is yet another timely alarm to wake up people about the serious danger we are in," she said. "Both clearly understand that protection for the public from a nuclear accident is about as thin as the piece of paper it's printed on. However they stop short of actually upholding the mandate of our public officials to provide for the public safety, by not demanding the NRC revoke the operating license of Pilgrim."
Meanwhile, Plymouth selectmen signed a "payment in lieu of taxes" agreement, or PILOT, with Entergy last week. The deal provides the town with more than $28 million over three years.
The lucrative arrangement has some thinking it wouldn't be easy to get Plymouth to back a plant closure.
"I think many people are persuaded by that much money," said Chatham resident and Downwinder member David Agnew.
George Baker, Mashpee's fire chief and the chairman of the Barnstable County Regional Planning Committee, pointed out Entergy has been working toward improving its emergency plans.
"Whether Entergy agrees to do further planning for the Cape, I don't know," Baker said. "There is a lot of emotions in this issue, and I know people want it done now."
Related Links
- Full Text: Read the letter from Sens. Warren and Markey
- Related Times stories on the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station
Entergy payments
The following is what owners of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station agreed to pay to the town of Plymouth in lieu of taxes over the next three years:
- FY2014: $10 million
- FY2015: $9.5 million
- FY2016: $9.25 million
TOTAL: $28.75 milliion
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