Two members of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation on Monday demanded assurance that the planned sale and decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station will not endanger the public’s safety or security.
Sen. Ed Markey (D) and Rep. Bill Keating (D) made their case in letters to power company Entergy and energy technology firm Holtec International, respectively the plant’s owner and prospective buyer, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which must approve the sale.
The companies plan this month to submit the license transfer application to the industry regulator and hope for a decision in 2019. The single-reactor facility on Cape Cod is scheduled to close by June 1, 2019. Holtec would assume responsibility for decommissioning, spent fuel management, and site restoration at the facility, and would take ownership of Pilgrim’s decommissioning trust fund – which now holds more than $1 billion.
“Regardless of whether the NRC approves or denies this license transfer application, the Pilgrim decommissioning must prioritize safety, security, and the concerns of local stakeholders, and consider potential costs to ratepayers,” Markey and Keating wrote in a letter to executives at Holtec and Entergy. They called for an application “that is of the very highest standard.”
The lawmakers expressed concerns about a number of areas of the application and cleanup program they said must be addressed.
That includes bettering what they called “the abysmal Pilgrim safety record” with an approach that features regular communication with all local stakeholders. The plant has held the lowest NRC safety rating allowed for an operational nuclear power reactor since 2015 following a series of safety errors and unplanned shutdowns. Management has taken steps to improve the failures and committed to improving Pilgrim’s safety rating prior to closure.
The license transfer application should provide transparency to help the public determine whether the $1.08 billion in Pilgrim’s decommissioning trust is sufficient to pay for Holtec’s intention to complete decommissioning by 2027, the letter says. That should include details regarding anticipated use of the account “for activities beyond management of spent fuel.” In communications with the NRC ahead of the application filing, the companies have said the trust will have a sufficient balance to cover all cleanup expenses.
The license transfer application should offer specifics of planned financial and corporate structure changes at Holtec, according to Keating and Markey. A number of entities within Entergy and Holtec are involved in the sale. Holtec subsidiary Nuclear Asset Management Co. will buy Entergy Nuclear Generation Co., which will then be renamed Holtec Pilgrim. That entity will remain the owner licensee for the plant, while Holtec Decommissioning International will assume the role of licensed operator. Comprehensive Decommissioning International, a venture with Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin, will be the general contractor for decommissioning at Pilgrim.
Further information is also needed regarding the workforce at Pilgrim after the sale, specifically how many will stay on after shutdown and for what period of time, the letter says. That includes ensuring unions have a role in the decommissioning proceeding and ensuring the plant is left with sufficient expertise.
In a prepared statement, Entergy said “we understand and appreciate the various questions and concerns of federal, state, and local stakeholders about the proposed transaction. Many of these issues will be addressed in our filings related to the proposed transaction, which we expect to make later this year.”
Holtec did not respond to a request for comment regarding the letter.
In a letter to NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki, Keating and Markey called on the agency to keep a close eye on the issues raised in the letter to Holtec and Entergy.
“The NRC has the responsibility to closely examine this application and hold it to a very high standard. First and foremost, the NRC must ensure that the public interest is protected,” they wrote.
Along with the license transfer application, the companies this month plan to file a number of key documents with the NRC, including a revised plan for management of the site’s spent fuel and a post-shutdown decommissioning activities report that lays out the plan for accelerated decommissioning at Pilgrim.
An Entergy spokesman said in September the agency would actually receive two PSDARs: one on Holtec’s plan to complete decommissioning by 2027, leaving only management of spent fuel; and the other on Entergy’s prior plan, under which decommissioning would be delayed for decades before wrapping up in 2083. The second document is needed in the event the agency rejects the license transfer application.
Holtec also plans to buy Exelon’s newly closed Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey and Entergy’s Palisades Plant in Michigan, which is scheduled for shutdown in 2022. In each case, it would then own the site’s decommissioning trust and all remediation responsibilities.
The parties to these deals have not discussed the financial particulars, but they appear to be effectively identical in approach to Entergy’s planned sale of its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to NorthStar Group Services. In that case, NorthStar paid $1,000 and will keep a portion of the trust once decommissioning is complete. The NRC is expected to rule on that deal this month, followed by a decision from Vermont’s Public Utility Commission.
