Panel to hear arguments for keeping Pilgrim’s emergency planning zone

By Christine Legere

Posted Jan 20, 2020

PLYMOUTH — Members of the region’s legislative delegation and those who continue to keep close watch on Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station will argue to keep the emergency planning zone around the plant during a hearing Wednesday before the state’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.

In addition to keeping the zone in place, proponents also will argue for keeping the zone’s accompanying financial commitments.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to allow Holtec International, the plant’s current owner, to eliminate the 10-mile emergency planning zone around Pilgrim as of April 1, just 10 months after the reactor’s permanent shutdown.

Under tweaks included in Senate Bill 1943, the 10-mile emergency planning zone around a nuclear plant would remain in place, even through when the reactor is shut down, until “all spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste at the facility is stored in dry cask storage systems licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

The bill would also maintain the payments to fund evacuation plans, staff and training for Duxbury, Marshfield, Kingston, Carver and Plymouth, the five towns in the 10-mile emergency planning zone, at least until the spent fuel is stored in dry casks.

Those annual payments total about $2 million. Funding would also be required for continued monitoring around the plant done by the Department of Public Health, until spent fuel is in dry casks.

Pilgrim’s 46½ years online left behind more than 4,000 spent fuel assemblies that will likely be stored onsite for years to come.

Three-quarters of the waste sits on boron-coated racks under 40 feet of water in the spent fuel pool at the top of Pilgrim’s reactor building. The boron, which prevents a nuclear reaction from occurring in the pool, has been deteriorating over the last several years, forcing operators to rearrange the pool fuel.

The plan is to move all the waste from the pool into dry casks over the course of the next three years.

Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and former state Sen. Viriato “Vinny” deMacedo filed an amendment to the fiscal 2020 state budget last summer that would have required Holtec International to continue paying assessments for radiation monitoring and emergency planning throughout decommissioning, which is expected to take about eight years. The amendment was taken out before the budget was finalized.

“The aim of this bill is to preserve what we currently have,” Cyr said. “Why should the commonwealth have to be on the hook for these things?”

Mary Lampert, director of the citizens group Pilgrim Watch, said she agrees “in part” with the measures included in the bill, but said she would keep the requirements in place for considerably longer.

“The bill would require assessments to the licensee only while the spent fuel is in the spent fuel pool, but not when all the fuel is out of the pool and into dry casks,” Lampert said. “This recognizes the probability that a disaster with horrendous consequences decreases after the fuel is out of the pool. It does not end, however.”

The bill also requires payments for continued monitoring for radiation leaks at the site. Those measures help protect those who live on the Cape, as well as those in the area directly around Pilgrim. It also protects water in Cape Cod Bay.

“The monitoring is an early warning system for everyone,” Cyr said.

Lambert, however, plans to push to have the bill amended to require Holtec to cover the cost of monitoring for radiation until the spent fuel leaves Plymouth. Currently, there is nowhere for spent fuel from nuclear reactors to be permanently stored.

“The bill is to encourage them to empty the spent fuel pool as soon as possible,” Lampert said. “The licensee has said they are going to do that anyway.”

Lampert pointed out the possibility of fire in the contaminated buildings that could cause radiation to leak into the environment. She also said an accident could occur while handling the fuel, or the heavy steel casks could crack and leak.

“Currently no technology exists to inspect, repair or replace cracked canisters,” she said.

Patrick O’Brien, speaking for Holtec International, said the company stands by its plan to reduce the emergency planning zone to its site boundary on April 1.

“This allowance was done so after careful review and consideration of scientific data related to the risks associated with a potential issue with the spent fuel pool,” said O’Brien in an email. “With the reactor no longer in operation, and the multiple defense in depth options to maintain adequate level in the spent fuel pool, the scientific basis for the reduction is warranted. Safety and security remain our #1 focus at Pilgrim Station.”

The Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy is scheduled to hear testimony on a long list of bills during its statehouse session Wednesday, which is scheduled for 11 a.m.