The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday formally approved a reduction in the emergency preparedness requirements for the retired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts.
The changes include elimination of a dedicated 10-mile emergency planning zone in the license for the Cape Cod property. The requirement for a specific off-site radiological emergency response plan will also be changed to an “all hazard” approach, according to the NRC. These revisions will not go into effect before April 1, 2020.
The commission voted 3-1 in favor of the update in notation votes submitted from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23. Chairman Kristine Svinicki and Commissioners Annie Caputo and David Wright, all Republicans, voted to approve the request filed by then-plant owner Entergy. Commissioner Jeff Baran, the sole Democrat on the current panel, opposed the request.
Then-owner Entergy closed the 47-year-old single-reactor power plant in May, and on Aug. 9 submitted its request for emergency-planning exemptions to the commission. Less than three weeks later, it completed the sale of the property to energy technology firm Holtec International for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management. The exemption request was transferred to subsidiary Holtec Decommissioning International.
In the release, the NRC said the request and approval were appropriate given the significantly reduced hazard posed by a retired nuclear power plant. The danger of the release of radiation into the environment is far lower, the agency said, and there are “significantly fewer” forms of possible accidents that could occur once a reactor is permanently powered down and its reactor vessel emptied of fuel.
Massachusetts has been wary of the Pilgrim ownership change, requesting a hearing in the NRC review of the transfer of the plant’s federal licenses from Entergy to Holtec. When the NRC approved the license transfers without deciding the hearing petition, the commonwealth sued in federal court in September to force the agency to vacate its decision.
“The NRC’s decision is shocking but not surprising to all of us who have watched how the public’s concerns have been consistently ignored during the decommissioning process at the Pilgrim plant,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a prepared statement. “I plan to reintroduce legislation that would correct this wrong, move nuclear fuel into safer dry cask storage, and ensure that key protections remain for Plymouth any community living in proximity to nuclear waste.”
