After holding a number of protests outside the Massachusetts State House demanding the immediate shutdown of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, demonstrators on Monday will take their case to the plant itself.
Cape Downwinders, a group of residents from Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, have repeatedly called on state officials to demand that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission revoke Entergy’s operating license at the struggling 44-year-old facility. The NRC is conducting its third and final increased oversight inspection at the Plymouth plant, 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. The facility is due to close in 2019.
Calls from the group grew even louder last month when an NRC official inadvertently leaked a 2,300-word email to Cape Downwinders President Diane Turco that divulged candid observations from the inspection. The email from NRC inspection team leader Don Jackson detailed a long list of issues at Pilgrim, with particular focus on Entergy’s safety culture. The Downwinders have latched onto Jackson’s admission that the NRC is “observing current indications of a safety culture problem that a bunch of talking probably won’t fix.” NRC Region 1 Administrator Daniel Dorman has since said Jackson’s observations are not final and do not indicate any conclusions about overall plant performance.
“Given the poor performance history coupled with this alarming email highlighting the dangers Pilgrim presents to the public, including Boston and the 5 million people in the 50 mile emergency planning zone, the only responsible outcome is to close Pilgrim to protect public safety,” Turco said by email Wednesday.
The group has scheduled a rally for 1 p.m. Monday at 600 Rocky Hill Road in Plymouth, just outside the nuclear plant.
Entergy spokesman Patrick O’Brien wrote in an email Wednesday: “We have worked hard to address the issues that led to station performance decline and look forward to demonstrating to the NRC that we have made significant progress in these areas through the inspection process. Until the results of the 95003 Phase ‘C’ inspection and the confirmatory action letter are released, we will not comment on the inspection.”
