PLYMOUTH — An independent study of potential risks related to Holtec’s plan to release one million gallons of radioactive wastewater from the former Pilgrim nuclear facility into Cape Cod Bay is stalled because of disagreement about who will pay for it. The conflict was revealed in correspondence between U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and Holtec officials over the last several months.
Meanwhile, Holtec International, the company that now owns Pilgrim, is steadily moving forward on its own plans. On March 31, the company submitted its application for an amended discharge permit, a step toward release of the wastewater.
Holtec agreed to support the study, proposed by Markey, at a congressional hearing last May. At that hearing, the company’s CEO Krishna Singh said such a study would benefit Holtec. “Because there has been so much material in the media, a non-problem, in my personal opinion, has become a big problem,” he said. “I think your suggestion to have experts review and study is a great suggestion. We will support it wholeheartedly.”
Markey organized a panel of experts to carry out a study that would look at possible harm to public health, marine life, and the region’s tourist and fishing industries.
But when Markey pursued the company for financial support, Holtec asserted that federal regulations prevented use of Pilgrim’s decommissioning trust fund for this purpose. Markey’s staff checked with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and was told the study was well within the allowed uses.
Speaking on behalf of the senator during the March 27 meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP) in Plymouth, James Cantwell said the decommissioning trust fund for Pilgrim initially contained over $1 billion, contributed over several years by ratepayers. According to the complex calculus of decommissioning, Holtec will profit by keeping what remains in the fund at the end of the process.
According to Holtec’s 2021 report on the fund, $881 million remained in it. The company anticipated $252 million would be left when decommissioning is complete, Cantwell said.
Holtec’s recently submitted annual trust fund report for 2022 shows a much-reduced outlook. The report, which the Independent obtained this week, shows profits plummeting to $44 million, due to an anticipated drop in trust fund earnings. Not factored into the profit calculation, however, is the ability of plant owners to recover their spent fuel management costs from the federal Dept. of Energy. In Pilgrim’s case, that could net Holtec up to $600 million, according to Holtec. The company has said it will pursue the reimbursement.
Markey sent a letter to Holtec on March 17 demanding that the company live up to its commitment to support the independent study. On March 31, Kelly Trice, president of the decommissioning arm of Holtec, responded with his own letter, refusing for a second time to pay for the study.
Singh never committed to paying for the study, Trice wrote. What he intended was simply to give information. Trice quoted Singh from the hearing’s transcript: “We will give them access to the data at the plant to help comfort the community.” Trice added that any financing by Holtec could create a perception that the company might have influence over the results.
At the March 27 advisory panel meeting, DPH and DEP officials confirmed that testing of the untreated wastewater in Pilgrim’s systems was expected to be done on April 5, with representatives from the two agencies on hand.
Holtec agreed to provide portions of each sample to the two agencies for their own testing. DPH will use the state’s Hinton Laboratory in Jamaica Plain to identify the sample’s radioactive contaminants. After an extensive search, DEP contracted with South Carolina-based Gel Laboratories to test the water for other pollutants.
The one drawback with Gel Laboratories, said Seth Pickering, the regional director of DEP’s Bureau of Air and Waste, was that Holtec was using that same lab for its sample analysis. Those attending the March 27 NDCAP meeting expressed initial outrage at that news.
But Jack Priest, director of DPH’s radiation control program and a member of NDCAP, said Gel was essentially the only laboratory that was equipped and licensed to handle the radioactive water. “This is a nationally accredited independent lab, not something we Googled,” he said.
Results should be provided to the two agencies in May and will then be made public.
The company will also seek modifications to its state permits. A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs released the following statement this week: “The Healey-Driscoll Administration has serious concerns about Holtec’s plan to discharge spent fuel pool water and other decommissioning wastewater into Cape Cod Bay and is monitoring this situation closely. Holtec cannot unilaterally decide to discharge this water.”
The statement continued: “Massachusetts agencies will carefully review all permit modification applications and analyze compliance with all applicable laws. We applaud the strong community engagement on this issue. The community’s concerns will be front of mind in the state’s review.”
