Potential Pilgrim owner gets earful at forum
By Christine LegerePosted Jan 16, 2019
Activists, officials press Holtec on decommissioning plans.
PLYMOUTH — Holtec International, the company looking to take over the license for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and handle decommissioning, got its first taste Tuesday of what it will be like to field hard-hitting questions and demands from regional officials and local citizens groups that have watched the problem-plagued plant closely for 40 years.
Pilgrim is set to permanently shut down May 31. Entergy Corp., the current owner and operator, has asked federal regulators to allow a license transfer to Holtec.
Entergy and Holtec were each required to provide the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with plans for decommissioning. Entergy would stretch the task out over 60 years, essentially mothballing the closed operation until 2073, then dismantling the reactor and cleaning up the site by 2079.
Holtec presented a much quicker timeline, saying the plant could be decommissioned and the site restored within eight years.
Those plans, and the requested license transfer, were up for discussion Tuesday at a forum hosted by the NRC.
Holtec representatives were pummeled with questions and comments related to the company’s problems with its decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California, possible deficiencies with Holtec’s dry casks used for storage of spent fuel — which company representatives denied — and concerns that Pilgrim’s decommissioning trust fund would fall short of covering costs.
Attorney General Maura Healey plans to intervene in the pending license transfer proceeding.
Remarks by Seth Schofield, ... by on Scribd
“Our office has serious concerns with the health, safety and financial risks that the proposed sale of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant poses for the state and its residents,” Healey’s spokeswoman, Chloe Gotsis, said via email Wednesday. “We call on the NRC to join us in closely scrutinizing the proposal’s terms and ensuring, among other things, that the transaction not leave our state’s taxpayers on the hook for any of the costs of decommissioning the plant, restoring the site and managing spent nuclear fuel.”
Speaking on behalf of the attorney general at Tuesday’s meeting, Senior Appellate Counsel Seth Schofield pointed out to NRC representatives that Holtec’s estimate of the cost to decommission, restore and manage spent fuel is only $3.6 million below the amount expected to be in the fund.
That cushion could prove inadequate if any contamination is found during decommissioning, Schofield said.
He cited the discovery of strontium-90 during decommissioning of Connecticut Yankee, contaminated groundwater at Maine Yankee, and PCB contamination and radiological contamination during decommissioning of Yankee Rowe, all of which dramatically increased costs.
Holtec and its partner, SNC-Lavalin, also have “poor track records” at other sites, Schofield said, citing a recent violation notice from the NRC for the company’s mishandling of dry cask loading and transfer operations at San Onofre and failure to report the incident in a timely manner.
Diane Turco, executive director of Cape Downwinders, a group that has long advocated for immediate closure of Pilgrim, said federal regulators concluded the incident was caused by poor training and poor procedures.
“How can you say with a straight face that Holtec has an impeccable record, when we know what’s going on at San Onofre?” Turco asked Joy Russell, Holtec’s vice president of business development and communications.
Russell stood her ground, repeating her contention that Holtec’s safety record was flawless.
Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., sent a letter to the NRC, which was read aloud by his regional director.
“The people of Massachusetts will accept nothing less than the most stringent safety standards,” Markey said. He urged the federal agency to continue to require the 10-mile emergency planning zone around the plant, and he called for a full environmental review of the property under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Currently the NRC plans to use abbreviated environmental impact reports done in 2002 and 2006.
Mary Lampert, director of the nonprofit organization Pilgrim Watch, echoed the need for a comprehensive study, saying the 2002 and 2006 reports had been based not on any on-site digging and testing but on reports provided by Entergy.
Other speakers expressed similar sentiments. “We have to know what’s really up there,” said Claire Muller, a staff member at Toxics Action Center.
Pine duBois, a member of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel, said Entergy’s planned 60-year cleanup timeline was of particular concern. With climate change, a high groundwater level might make cleanup impossible in 60 years, she said.
“Cleaning up the site doesn’t mean you let it wash into Cape Cod Bay,” duBois said.
Lampert raised concerns over the potential for terrorist attacks on the spent nuclear fuel, since that scenario is not set to be considered as part of the license transfer and decommissioning review.
“We know the spent fuel pool is vulnerable,” she said. “We know even in casks, it’s vulnerable to a shoulder-launched missile. Although the probability is low, the consequences are great.”
The pad that eventually will hold 61 dry casks packed with more than 4,000 radioactive spent fuel rods is set to be constructed in an area close to Rocky Hill Road, prompting concern from several residents.
Mandy Halter, director of nuclear licensing for Entergy, assured them that pad location would be protected by “a physical barrier, monitoring system and armed security.”
Much of Tuesday’s discussion focused on finances.
“If there is not enough money, is there any law or regulation that requires a licensee, typically a limited liability corporation, or any of its parent or related entities to pay the shortfall?” asked Duxbury resident James Lampert.
Bruce Watson, chief of the NRC’s Reactor Decommissioning Branch, said financial arrangements will be studied as part of the license transfer review. The agency will check federal regulations regarding the financial responsibility of parent companies or related corporations, he said.
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Pilgrim powers down for valve repair
By Christine Legere
Posted Jan 16, 2019
PLYMOUTH — Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station was operating at 26 percent of full power Wednesday so operators could repair a leak in the check valve on the feedwater system.
The system provides water to the reactor to create steam. The steam is then piped to the turbine, where it is converted into electricity.
The valve leak had been detected earlier this month during a similar power-down of the reactor.
“This work cannot be done at full-power operation,” Patrick O’Brien, spokesman for plant owner-operator Entergy Corp., said via email. Asked why the valve was not fixed after its discovery during the first power-down, O’Brien said operators “took the time to create the plan for the needed weld.”
Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Pilgrim operators also would conduct a “rod pattern adjustment,” which is done to maximize use of the fuel remaining in the reactor. Pilgrim is scheduled to permanently shut down May 31.
“Our resident inspectors are keeping close tabs on the repair work, but they have no immediate safety concerns,” Sheehan said.
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