The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission should disregard the commonwealth of Massachusetts’ request for a 90-day stay on its review of the license transfer application for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, the plant’s owner and prospective buyer said Monday.
“The Commission should deny this Motion because it is inconsistent with NRC rules and practice, unsupported by any compelling reasons, and highly prejudicial to the interests of the Applicants,” according to a response from Entergy and Holtec International.
The federal agency must approve the license transfer before Entergy can sell the retired single-reactor plant on Cape Cod to Holtec for decommissioning. Massachusetts and the local advocacy group Pilgrim Watch have both filed petitions for intervention and a hearing in the proceeding, which if approved would enable them to formally present contentions against the license transfer.
The commonwealth’s concerns boil down to whether there is enough money to complete decommissioning on the eight-year schedule laid out by Holtec, and that the two companies have not conducted the necessary environmental assessment. Massachusetts and the companies have since 2018 conducted settlement talks that produced a draft agreement in mid-June, according to the document filed Monday.
The commonwealth said in its filing that a 90-day delay would not harm decommissioning at Pilgrim and could help expedite the license transfer proceeding. However, among their arguments against the stay, Holtec and Entergy responded that “staying all activities in this proceeding will greatly prejudice and harm the Applicants,” including leaving the roughly 270 personnel at Pilgrim uncertain about their future for an extended period.
In their filing Monday, the companies said the NRC might complete its review of their license transfer application before ruling on the petitions for intervention. A decision on the application had at one point been anticipated by the end of July.
