AG seeks overturn of Pilgrim license transfer

By Christine Legere
Posted Sep 26, 2019

Filing with federal appeals court asks that matter be sent back to NRC.

BOSTON — State Attorney General Maura Healey has filed a federal court appeal that seeks to vacate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s order to transfer Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s license from Entergy Corp. to Holtec International, and its $1.1 billion trust fund along with it.

“The NRC has repeatedly rubber-stamped Holtec’s plans, despite serious concerns about the company’s financial capacity, technical qualifications and competency to safely decommission and clean up the Pilgrim site,” Healey said. “We are asking the court to exercise its authority to vacate the NRC’s misguided and unsupported actions.”

Pilgrim shut down permanently May 31 and is poised to be decommissioned. Entergy applied for the license transfer to Holtec in November. On Aug. 22, the NRC approved the request, along with an exemption for Holtec to use the decommissioning trust fund for nondecommissioning activities such as site restoration and spent fuel storage.

Entergy sold the plant to Holtec a few days after the transfer.

In the 103-page document submitted Wednesday, Healey’s general counsel, Seth Schofield, asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “orders, findings and decisions and remand the matter back to the NRC for further proceedings.”

The court petition accuses the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of violating the Atomic Energy Act, National Environmental Policy Act and the agency’s own regulations by transferring Pilgrim’s license without providing “the Commonwealth with a meaningful opportunity to participate in the process.”

In February, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the attorney general’s office filed a petition to intervene in the NRC’s review of the requested license transfer. They questioned Holtec’s financial ability to decommission Pilgrim and called for a full environmental review of the reactor site before decommissioning. State officials also called for a public hearing.

“The Baker-Polito administration remains strongly committed to ensuring the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is decommissioned in a manner that protects the safety of the public and environment and is supporting and assisting the attorney general’s lawsuit regarding the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff’s approval of the license transfer prior to a ruling by the commission on the concerns raised by both the administration as well as the attorney general,” Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Secretary Kathleen A. Theoharides said Thursday.

A citizens group called Pilgrim Watch filed similar requests.

The petitions had yet to be acted on when the NRC approved the license transfer.

The NRC also denied a request made during the summer by the attorney general’s office to put the license transfer review on hold for 90 days to allow state officials and the plant owner time to reach a settlement agreement.

The day before the transfer approval, the attorney general sent a seven-page letter to the NRC questioning Holtec’s truthfulness, citing the company’s admission to bribery of a Tennessee Valley Authority employee in 2007. More recently, state officials in New Jersey froze a $260 million tax break secured by Holtec when they discovered the company had lied on its application, the attorney general said.

U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. William Keating, all Massachusetts Democrats, also weighed in, urging the NRC to hear from state officials and citizens groups before acting on the transfer request.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s staff approved the license transfer despite never having taken action on the state’s petition to intervene.

Earlier this month, Healey made yet another attempt to have input, asking the NRC for a temporary stay on Pilgrim’s approved license transfer until the agency acts on her February petition to intervene.

Both the February motion and the September request remain pending, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Thursday. The agency declined to comment on the federal court appeal.

Mary Lampert, president of Pilgrim Watch, praised the attorney general for filing the federal appeal.

“We could not agree more,” Lampert said. “In addition to depriving Pilgrim Watch and the commonwealth their right to participate in the process, NRC’s decisions endanger our health, safety and pocketbooks. We have full confidence that the attorney general’s office will prevail.”

Patrick O’Brien, spokesman for Comprehensive Decommissioning International, a joint company formed by Holtec and SNC Lavalin to decommission Pilgrim and several other plants, provided a written statement:

“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has concluded that Holtec met the required regulatory, legal, technical and financial requirements to qualify as licensee. While we respect the petitioner’s rights to file legal motions, we are not going to comment on any specific legal motions or action.”