The governor of Massachusetts this week signed into law a proposal that could throw a wrench in a decommissioning company’s plans to discharge irradiated wastewater from a nuclear power plant it is currently dismantling in the Bay State.
A sweeping economic development package greenlit by Boston lawmakers last week and signed Thursday by Gov. Charlie Baker (R) includes a provision assembling a 13-member commission to “examine the potential negative environmental and economic impacts caused by the discharge of spent fuel pool water” from Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
The commission, proposed by state Sen. Susan Moran (D), would be led by the Massachusetts attorney general or a designated representative. The commission would be required to submit a report on its findings by November 2024, according to the bill.
In addition, the discharge of “any materials created as a waste product of nuclear energy from spent fuel pools” would be barred until around three months after the commission issues its report.
Holtec International, which currently owns the Plymouth, Mass., Pilgrim plant, is weighing whether to discharge the facility’s irradiated spent fuel pool water into the nearby Cape Cod Bay. If made law, Moran’s provision could delay any discharge from Pilgrim until around February 2025.
“We need a comprehensive understanding of the impacts any dumping of water will have, and this study will ensure greater transparency before any steps are taken by Holtec,” Moran told RadWaste Monitor in a statement Wednesday. “This victory is a culmination of countless hours of advocacy by numerous activists, and the bipartisan support from the State and Federal delegation to get this over the finish line.”
This proposal is Moran’s latest attempt to block the proposed discharges from Pilgrim. The lawmaker, who represents Plymouth and the nearby town of Barnstable, Mass., has said that the Bay State should “never allow” such action to take place.
Meanwhile, members of Massachusetts’s congressional delegation last week blasted Holtec for what they said was its “misinterpretation” of Pilgrim’s federal pollutant discharge permits.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June told the company that its claim that wastewater discharges are allowed under the plant’s EPA-administered National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit “directly conflicts with the ‘plain language’ of the permit.”
A spokesperson for Holtec told RadWaste Monitor in a statement Wednesday that the company “will comply with our permits related to potential future discharge.” Should a discharge be deemed illegal, the spokesperson said, “we would look at alternative means of disposal.”
Holtec has already said that it would not release any wastewater from Pilgrim in 2022, and that it could start doing so early next year. The Camden, N.J.-based nuclear services company acquired the plant from former operator Entergy Corp. in 2018, and has said that it could finish decommissioning the site by 2027 or so.
