BOSTON — Mass. Attorney General Andrea Campbell has filed a civil complaint against Holtec Decommissioning International, owner of the shuttered Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, for a long list of violations related to improperly handling, storing, shipping, and disposal of asbestos-laced debris during the plant’s demolition.
The complaint cites work done between January 2021 and September 2023. The improper handling put the health of workers and residents near the plant in jeopardy, according to the complaint, which seeks penalties of $25,000 per day for each violation.
The attorney general’s office filed the 28-page suit on Feb. 14 in Suffolk Superior Court. Assistant Attorney General John Craig, from the office’s environmental division, states that Holtec didn’t hire the required asbestos inspector before demolishing a 32-foot-high water tower in 2021. Asbestos-laced paint on the exterior of the tower was not removed and properly disposed of, the complaint charges, and it wound up in flakes on the work site and mixed in with metal scraps from the tower.
The debris was stored on top of open dumpsters in ripped trash bags and left in the work area and a nearby shed, according to the court documents. The debris was taken in three 20-yard open-top trailers to a metal recycling facility in Middleborough that is not licensed to accept such waste. The material, which was not labeled as containing asbestos, was stored and processed at the facility and then transferred to the Schnitzer Steel scrap metal facility in Everett, the complaint states.
Under state regulations, renovation or demolition can’t be done until asbestos is removed and disposed of. The demolition area is sealed during that process and filters must be employed to prevent asbestos fibers from leaking into the air. The state Department of Environmental Protection must be notified 10 days before a demolition where asbestos is present. The asbestos is generally kept wet so that it doesn’t become airborne and then stored in clearly labeled, sealed containers.
None of those measures were taken, the state charged.
According to the complaint, Holtec jeopardized the health of plant workers, people living near the plant, and workers at a Middleborough facility where the asbestos was trucked. No level of asbestos is considered safe, Craig said.
In late January 2022, Holtec’s contractor started demolition of the interior concrete walls in a warehouse at the Pilgrim site. The survey Holtec submitted to the state failed to note that the walls contained asbestos, and, once again, Holtec did not notify the state 10 days before the demolition.
The warehouse was not sealed off and not filtered as required. Exhaust released in the area was not filtered. The comingled debris was cleaned up and put in containers without the required emergency waiver from DEP.
Holtec notified the DEP that asbestos-containing vermiculite had been discovered only after the material was cleaned up and stored, Craig said. He charged that the activity “risked the health of people at and around the work location and increased the likelihood that asbestos fibers were released into the air.”
A third infraction was said to have occurred last September, when Holtec failed to check a pipe and gasket for asbestos before doing repair work. The gasket contained 40 percent Chrysotile asbestos, Craig said. Again, Holtec had not properly notified DEP and failed to hire an asbestos inspector.
Contacted on Feb. 15, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office declined comment on the suit.
Holtec Decommissioning International has also run into legal trouble in New Jersey, where a criminal investigation concluded that the company had fraudulently claimed tax credits. The company agreed to pay $5 million as part of a settlement of that case.
