The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting in Massachusetts on Jan. 31 to discuss preliminary findings from an ongoing inspection at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, the agency announced Monday.
The agency scheduled the meeting after Gov. Charlie Baker and other state officials raised concerns about an NRC email leak in December that revealed troubling findings at Pilgrim. The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the Hotel 1620 at Plymouth Harbor, 180 Water St. in Plymouth. The public will be able to comment and ask questions of NRC staff.
“We recognize the public’s interest in learning more about our inspectors’ findings from their evaluations at the plant,” NRC Region I Administrator Dan Dorman said in a statement Monday. “This meeting will provide an avenue for us to share, at a high level, our latest assessment.”
Baker, the state’s two senators and nine representatives, and a long list of local lawmakers sent a letter to NRC Chairman Stephen Burns on Jan. 4 raising concerns about the 44-year-old nuclear plant, which is expected to close in 2019. The agency is conducting its third and final increased oversight inspection at Pilgrim, which the regulator in 2015 downgraded to Column 4 of its Action Matrix, the lowest safety rating a nuclear facility can have while remaining in operation.
According to the NRC, the controversial 2,300-word email, written by NRC inspection team leader Don Jackson, was mistakenly forwarded by a Region I project engineer to Diane Turco, president of the Cape Downwinders, a group of residents from Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket who have long called for Pilgrim’s immediate closure. Jackson’s message detailed a long list of observations at the plant, including concerns about owner Entergy’s safety culture.
