Entergy, owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, said Monday that it will work within the political process to oppose bills gaining momentum in Massachusetts that would give the state discretion over $25 million in annual funds the company would provide to supplement decommissioning at the plant.
The state legislature’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy on Wednesday recommended approval of the bills. The legislative session is scheduled to wrap up at the end of July.
Entergy in October 2015 announced that it would shut Pilgrim down no later than June 2019 and as early as spring 2017, citing economic factors. Entergy spokesman Patrick O’Brien said this week that there is still no timeline for when the company will have an exact shutdown date. Entergy also has not decided on which post-shutdown decommissioning option it will pursue, O’Brien said.
Massachusetts state Sen. Daniel Wolf (D) introduced the two bills in November, and they would apply to all nuclear plants in the state, though Pilgrim is the only one that currently exists. S.1798 would establish an escrow account of $25 million per year that would supplement existing funds “to make sure the plant is decommissioned as quickly and completely as possible.” Any amount left over from the account post-decommissioning would be returned to Entergy.
S.1797 would create an annual fee of $10,000 for every spent fuel rod assembly held in wet storage at Pilgrim, of which there are roughly 3,000 now, serving as an incentive for Entergy to decommission the plant more quickly.
Entergy’s Pilgrim decommissioning trust fund has accumulated about $900 million, according to the company, but Wolf estimates the actual cost of decommissioning at $1.4 billion or greater. Entergy Vice President for External Affairs Mike Twomey said in a statement last week that the current amount in the decommissioning trust fund is in compliance with Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidelines.
“We do not support the legislation because it is contrary to federal law and inconsistent with the terms under which we acquired Pilgrim,” Twomey said in the statement. “Further, such legislation could significantly impede progress and constructive engagement with the local community by inviting lengthy and contentious litigation.”
O’Brien said by email Monday: “The bill was just reported out of committee last week, and there is a long process still to go. We will work within that process to show our opposition to the legislation.”
NRC regulations allow for three different decommissioning options: DECON, SAFSTOR, and ENTOMB. DECON allows for immediate dismantling and termination of the NRC license. SAFSTOR, which is referred to as deferred dismantling, allows the owner to sit on the property for 60 years or until the trust fund accumulates enough interest to cover decommissioning costs. With ENTOMB, radioactive contaminants are permanently entombed on site in concrete, or other “structurally sound material.”
