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Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

    RADIOACTIVITY

    Pilgrim Worker Claims He Was Poisoned by Radiation

    Adam Snyder’s lawsuit says Holtec knew of danger and withheld facts

    By

    PLYMOUTH — A 41-year-old worker assigned to the decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station for several months in 2021 claims he was poisoned by radiation and that Holtec Pilgrim, the plant’s owner, misled workers about safety. He has sued the company for injuries caused by “the release of radioactive, hazardous and toxic substances.”

    The purple area is a work location. The control rod drives come out the bottom of the reactor vessel and moved to the purple work area. The yellow area is the 9-foot elevation of the drywell, which had not been sufficiently tested for airborne radioactivity. Under procedures regulating safety in work areas, they must be surveyed for radiological hazards prior to workers entering them. Both the 9- and 23-foot elevation areas were not properly sampled, according to NRC inspection reports. (Illustration courtesy David Lochbaum)

    Adam Snyder, a resident of Ohio, was employed by William Industrial Services, a company subcontracted by Holtec International to work at a handful of nuclear plants the company is decommissioning. According to court documents, Snyder’s job was to remove fuel rods.

    In an amended complaint filed on Nov. 8 in the U.S. District Court, he claims Holtec knew about the unsafe working conditions.

    The complaint was initially filed in Plymouth Superior Court in early September. It was moved to federal court at Holtec’s request. Holtec had also filed a motion to dismiss the complaint.

    Snyder’s attorney, Andrew Abraham of Keches Law Group in Milton, provided more details in his motion to allow an amended complaint. On Nov. 14, the judge allowed the amended complaint and denied Holtec’s motion to dismiss.

    Abraham filed the action under the Atomic Energy Act and the Price Anderson Act, federal laws that regulate commerce in the nuclear industry. The named defendants are Holtec Pilgrim LLC, a subsidiary of Holtec International that owns the plant, and several related limited liability companies formed by Holtec. Snyder has requested a jury trial.

    The court documents include inspection reports done at Pilgrim starting in 2020, shortly after Holtec bought the shuttered plant and began decommissioning it. “Throughout decommissioning of this facility, [Holtec] has caused the release of radioactive, hazardous and toxic substances into the jobsite,” Snyder states in the filing.

    The judge has not yet scheduled any hearings in his suit.

    Snyder’s Claims

    Snyder was assigned to Pilgrim from May to December 2021. He states in his filing that Holtec knew of the unsafe conditions caused by elevated radiation levels at the site but withheld information from those working at the plant. Snyder claims his Holtec supervisor, Leon Johnson, “assured him the jobsite was safe to work at without protective gear or a ventilator and that the site had been tested for radioactive materials.”

    Snyder claims he was exposed to nuclear radiation, which has caused “serious sickness.” During the last several weeks of his assignment at Pilgrim, he started to experience nausea, fatigue, and lack of stamina. Those symptoms grew worse in the six to eight weeks after he left the site, with chronic nausea and vomiting.

    In 2022, he learned that inspections done by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at Pilgrim cited violations related to improper monitoring and radioactive contamination in the same areas where he had worked.

    In March 2023, doctors at WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital told him that too much time had passed since exposure to put him on medicines for that condition. He was told to get his lymph nodes and blood tested annually. He was prescribed ondansetron HCL, which he still must take daily for nausea.

    Without the medication, Snyder said, he is too sick to leave his house. In his opposition to Holtec’s motion to dismiss the complaint, attorney Abraham claims that one of Snyder’s co-workers also developed symptoms at about the same time as Snyder and had part of his tongue and esophagus surgically removed.

    The experience at Pilgrim “ended my nuclear career,” said Snyder in a recent phone interview. His lawsuit seeks $393,000 for lost wages and medical expenses.

    Snyder said he filed the complaint to shine a light on Holtec’s practices. “If it was $5 million or their boardroom going to jail,” he said, he would choose the latter. “What has gone on at that plant is the worst of the worst. All the money in the world doesn’t matter if you’re in a hospice bed.”

    Lack of Monitoring

    An NRC inspection report, released in late 2022, described a violation that occurred between Aug. 12 and 24, 2020, about eight months before Snyder’s arrival at Pilgrim. Holtec did not perform radiation surveys or surface contamination surveys or take radiological air samples in the 23-foot elevation of the drywell where workers were unbolting and removing control rod drives from the underside of the reactor vessel, which they then removed from the drywell.

    The area was posted as having high radiation and high contamination, and workers located under the vessel wore plastic air-fed suits to provide protection from water, radioactive contamination, and potential airborne radioactivity. Support workers wore powered air-purifying respirators.

    Inspectors reported that Holtec also failed to conduct air sampling where workers were being decontaminated and removing their respiratory protection. “As a consequence, the potential for very high loose surface contamination and the potential for the generation of airborne radioactivity were not assessed,” the report said. As a result of Holtec’s failure to perform the radiation surveys, six workers received unplanned intakes of radioactive material, according to the inspection report.

    Attorney Abraham included in the complaint an NRC inspection report from 2022, shortly after Snyder had left Pilgrim, that described violations related to failures to properly survey radiological conditions in areas where workers were present.

    The inspector found that a stop-work order should have been executed based on the radiation levels found in areas on elevation 9. No such order was made.

    In an inspection done earlier this year and reported by the Independent, a series of mistakes had been made that resulted in a worker getting an internal dose of 132 millirem and a 43-millirem external dose when surveying the underside of the head of the reactor vessel on April 2. The annual dose limit for the public is 100 millirems per year total, although workers in the nuclear industry have a considerably higher annual dose limit of 5,000 millirem.

    Holtec spokesman Patrick O’Brien said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

    RADIOACTIVITY

    DEP Wants to Allow ‘Intervenors’ in Holtec Appeal Hearing

    Environmental, fishing, and real estate groups join forces against wastewater release

    By

    PLYMOUTH — The state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) determined in July that Holtec Decommissioning International’s proposal to discharge up to one million gallons of wastewater from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station into Cape Cod Bay violates state law.

    The agency based its denial on the Ocean Sanctuaries Act, which prohibits such industrial discharges into protected water bodies. Holtec is fighting the decision and filed an appeal in August.

    Now, six groups that filed motions related to the decision have secured the support of the DEP to participate in the appeal as “intervenors.” That is, they plan to participate in the hearing to support the denial of Holtec’s requested permit modification. One of the six groups is led by the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC).

    But the decision on whether the intervenors will be allowed to participate is still ahead.

    The Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution, an independent entity within DEP, will decide on the requests. That same office will preside over the appeal process and then make a recommendation to Commissioner Bonnie Heiple, who will make the final decision.

    The process could take 18 months to two years, according to Andrew Gottlieb, the APCC’s executive director who formerly worked at DEP.

    APCC’s Group Filing

    Several individuals and organizations jointly moved to intervene as the “APCC Group.”

    Among the group’s members are the Cape Cod Fishermen’s Alliance and others in the fishing industry, including charter boat captain and former Dennis Select Board member Wayne Bergeron and Brewster oyster farmer Sally Andreola; Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council member David Weeden and tribe members Trish Kellinui, William Mills, and Robert Mills; state Rep. Dylan Fernandes, who is currently running for a state Senate seat; Wellfleet Select Board member Sheila Lyons; Rick Sawyer, president of Aquacultural Research Corporation (ARC) shellfish hatchery; and Ryan Castle, CEO of the Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors.

    In its motion to intervene, the group argues that the proposed discharge of water from the spent fuel pool and other systems at Pilgrim could affect seafood safety because pollutants can accumulate in sea animals. They also argue that the discharge could have long-term unknown effects on marine animal and organism health in Cape Cod Bay. The wastewater has been shown to contain suspended solids, oil and grease, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, boron, and phenol, which would pose human health risks, says the group’s filing.

    The group argues that if Holtec goes forward, both fishing and tourism would be affected: consumers could reject local seafood over fears of contamination, and tourists could choose to vacation elsewhere because of fear of exposure to the contaminants.

    Other intervenors whose participation is supported by the DEP include the town of Plymouth, the town of Barnstable, the Pilgrim Watch citizens action group, the environmental group led by James Lampert, and Duxbury resident J. Benjamin Cronin.

    Holtec’s Opposition

    Holtec has opposed the inclusion of the intervenor groups in the appeal on the basis of their arguments. The company argues that some of the intervenors cited harm that would be caused by radioactive elements rather than the nonradioactive compounds in the wastewater. The state has no authority over radioactive elements, Holtec said.

    “Because MassDEP has no authority to regulate the disposal of nuclear byproduct materials through liquid effluent discharge, any harm resulting from the disposal of such material cannot be within the zone of interest of the Ocean Sanctuaries Act, and thus cannot be the basis for intervention,” stated Holtec in the argument it submitted to the appeals office.

    The Ocean Sanctuaries Act is a state law. Holtec has argued that the federal Atomic Energy Act preempts state law. The company also argued that the handling and discharge of radionuclides are solely under the jurisdiction of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, not state regulatory agencies.

    While DEP supported the motions to intervene since they each appeared to satisfy the legal requirements for intervention, the agency said that does not indicate its support or opposition to the arguments each group submitted.

    Compounds: A Hot Debate

    A set of year-old notes written by a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution about 2023 wastewater sampling results from Pilgrim’s spent fuel pool and other systems triggered a hot debate at the Sept. 23 meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel.

    During the public comment period, Peter Moyer, a member of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, read aloud the notes written by Ken Buesseler, a marine radiochemist at Woods Hole.

    Buesseler has participated in the study of radioactivity at Fukushima, Chornobyl, and the Marshall Islands. The Independent previously reported on Buesseler’s observations on Pilgrim’s wastewater in May 2023.

    In that testing round, five radioactive isotopes were found in the untreated wastewater above the detection limit: manganese-54, cobalt-60, zinc-65, cesium-137, and tritium. Except for tritium, those elements could be reduced by a treatment system to levels allowed by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    According to Buesseler’s notes, even after removing 99 percent of the cesium-137, the remaining amount would be 2 million times more than what is currently found in Cape Cod Bay’s water. Once in the ocean, wrote Buesseler, cesium-137 and cobalt-60 could end up in fish and accumulate in sea-floor sediments. Buesseler concluded that the wastewater should be reanalyzed using more sensitive methods to provide a better analysis of other radioactive elements not included in the report.

    At the Sept. 23 meeting, NDCAP Chair James Lampert suggested posting Buesseler’s notes on the panel’s website. That suggestion, along with the content of the notes, quickly drew opposition.

    Holtec’s senior compliance manager David Noyes called Buessler’s observations “fear mongering.”

    Mary Gatslick, a former Pilgrim employee and current NDCAP member, characterized the scientist’s comments as “the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater.”

    Gatslick argued that posting Buesseler’s notes on the NDCAP’s website would appear to be an endorsement. “I don’t know how the rest of the panel feels about it, but I think this paper needs the person who wrote it to come here and talk to the panel,” Gatslick said. “The panel can ask him questions, and he can clarify some of these outrageous statements that he’s making.”

    Jack Priest, the Dept. of Public Health’s representative on the advisory panel, pointed out that the wastewater that had been sampled had not yet been treated. “It’s not completely accurate to compare drinking water standards and ocean water standards to this untreated water,” Priest said. Instead, he said, “The sampling was to give us a point on the map of what was currently in those Pilgrim vessels.”

    Priest said his agency recommended that radionuclides that were harder to detect be investigated. The lab that had done the original analysis conducted the assessment and found none, Priest said. It also tested for radioactive elements that emit alpha rays and found none.

    Buesseler did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

    Following the meeting, NDCAP chair James Lampert said he plans to ask Buesseler to make a presentation at the panel’s meeting in late November.

    Editor’s note: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article, published in print on Oct. 3, incorrectly reported that five groups, not six, had filed motions to intervene in the DEP decision and that all were being led by the Association to Preserve Cape Cod. The APCC is leading one of the six groups.

    ‘RISK-SIGNIFICANT’ EVENTS

    Holtec Confirms Pilgrim Worker Was Contaminated

    Reactor’s owner downplays incident while revising wastewater permit wording

    By

    PLYMOUTH — An incident that exposed a worker at the shuttered Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to airborne radioactive contamination was confirmed on June 14 by Patrick O’Brien, spokesman for Holtec International, the company that has been decommissioning the plant since 2019.

    An anonymous letter about the incident, claiming that the worker in the reactor building was exposed to enough radioactivity to set off the plant’s radiation detection monitors at the facility’s access and egress points for several weeks, was sent to advocates at Cape Downwinders and to the Mass. Dept. of Public Health last month.

    It was the third anonymous letter describing problems with Holtec’s performance as it decommissions the Plymouth plant sent to the Downwinders over the last year, according to Diane Turco, the group’s president.

    O’Brien said the contamination incident had been “promptly reported and entered into the facility’s Corrective Action Program.”

    According to O’Brien, the worker was exposed by inadvertently coming into contact with the contaminated reactor vessel head while performing a radiological survey. But the dose received by the worker did not exceed allowed exposure limits, he said.

    “Plant investigation into the cause of the event is ongoing,” O’Brien said.

    The anonymous letter described other problems: a severed 480-volt power cable “almost electrocuting several workers,” and an incident Holtec had originally reported as a “heat event” but which was later reclassified as a “fire event” by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

    “With the exception of the personnel contamination event, the assertions in the letter do not provide any new information or concerns that have not been fully addressed previously,” O’Brien said of the anonymous writer’s claims.

    Exposure Versus Overexposure

    A spokesman for the NRC, which provides oversight for the country’s nuclear reactors, confirmed his agency “is aware of the concerns involving the decommissioning Pilgrim nuclear plant raised in the recent anonymous letter sent to state officials.”

    The spokesman, Neil Sheehan, continued: “At this point, we do not have evidence of workers at the site experiencing overexposure to radiation during the course of their work. It’s important to note that the worker discussed in the letter received an exposure to radioactivity versus an overexposure.”

    The annual occupational limit for nuclear plant workers is 5,000 millirems. Exposure for the general public is limited to 100 millirems, according to the U.S. Dept. of Energy website.

    “The worker involved is believed to have received a small fraction of the allowable amount,” said Sheehan, referring to the limit set for workers. But Sheehan conceded that the exact amount the worker was exposed to in this case is not yet known.

    He went on to say the NRC has inspectors at Pilgrim several times each quarter, “including when risk-significant activities are taking place.” The agency can also dispatch its inspectors to conduct a review “if an issue or event warrants more immediate attention.

    “However, we do not at this time plan to conduct a reactive inspection based on available information,” Sheehan said.

    Sheehan said there were no additional reports or other documents related to this exposure incident. “Not at this point,” he said.

    Distrust of the NRC

    David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who spent two decades at the Union of Concerned Scientists and served as director of that organization’s Nuclear Safety Project, was provided a copy of the anonymous letter by the Independent.

    “The letter was not addressed to the NRC, which is the cop on the nuclear beat,” Lochbaum said in an email. “It is the NRC’s regulations that the author(s) contend were violated. The omission implies a lack of trust and confidence in the NRC.”

    Lochbaum said that during his tenure at the UCS he interacted with dozens of nuclear plant workers who had concerns related to safety and security. “The vast majority turned to me after going to the NRC and being unsatisfied with the NRC’s response,” he said.

    They always asked Lochbaum to pursue a resolution without revealing that the information came from a plant employee.

    While Lochbaum said it was hard to evaluate the whistleblower’s claims without knowing more, he wrote that “NRC inspectors in recent years have identified radiation protection violations at Pilgrim and at Indian Point.”

    Both sites are owned by Holtec International, whose profits are tied to monies that might remain in a decommissioning trust fund after the process it is responsible for is complete.

    Lochbaum currently serves as a technical expert for the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board.

    He said the allegations made in the anonymous letter are “entirely plausible.”

    “If valid, the allegations represent true threats to worker safety,” Lochbaum said. “The allegations aren’t inconsequential claims of deficient accounting or paperwork practices. The allegations are that workers are not being properly protected from radiation exposure.”

    A Quiet Rewrite

    Lack of public trust has been an ongoing issue for Holtec.

    Last month, Holtec Senior Compliance Manager David Noyes presented a lengthy update of plant activities at a meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel, which is charged with overseeing operations at the shuttered Pilgrim reactor.

    What his report did not mention was that the company had submitted an amendment to its application to the federal Environmental Protection Agency for a wastewater discharge permit modification. The original application characterized the proposed discharge of one million gallons of radioactive wastewater as a “new” discharge. The company wants to reclassify it as “existing discharge.”

    At that meeting, Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, who serves on the advisory panel, accused Noyes of “lying by omission.”

    “They are now arguing it’s a modification to existing permitting,” said Gottlieb later in a phone interview. “It’s the same activity. They’re trying to breathe new life into Frankenstein.”

    The state Dept. of Environmental Protection issued a draft denial of Holtec’s request for a surface water discharge permit last July, calling it a violation of the state’s Ocean Sanctuaries Act, but hasn’t issued its final decision yet.

    The EPA has also not yet issued its decision on Holtec’s request for an amendment to its so-called National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, which the state also weighs in on.

    Noyes’s failure to mention the change in the permit application shows “contempt for the public,” Gottlieb said.

    ACCOUNTING

    NRC Cites Holtec for Improper Use of Funds

    The company’s gifts in four different communities came out of taxpayer trusts

    By

    PLYMOUTH — Holtec Decommissioning International has misspent money from the decommissioning trust funds at all four nuclear plants it owns, using it to pay for activities like parades and softball games when federal regulations restrict the use to decommissioning of the reactors and cleaning up the contaminated sites.

    Holtec has also spent close to a half million dollars in decommissioning trust funds on lobbying related to Pilgrim since 2019. That expense, however, is allowed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), according to spokesman Neil Sheehan.

    Four nuclear facilities — Pilgrim in Plymouth, Oyster Creek in New Jersey, Indian Point in New York, and Palisades in Michigan — are owned by Holtec’s decommissioning arm. All four plants are currently closed, and all but Palisades are in various stages of decommissioning; the company is currently working to restart the Michigan reactor, however.

    The company’s purchase of the plants is part of an arrangement that provides Holtec with trust funds amounting to billions in taxpayer money, set aside specifically to cover decommissioning costs.

    While the amounts of money improperly spent from the funds are small, critics say they reflect Holtec’s pattern of ignoring regulations.

    “Holtec’s motto is ‘It is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission — much cheaper, too,’ ” said Mary Lampert, director of the activist group Pilgrim Watch and a member of the citizens advisory committee on Pilgrim’s decommissioning.

    The company blamed the misappropriation on clerical errors in the case of one plant but has not yet offered explanations in the other three cases. The NRC has given the company 30 days to provide reasons for the violations.

    Holtec appeared to be a generous corporate partner last year, donating $84,000 to the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, the town’s annual Thanksgiving celebration, and similar local events. The donation didn’t come out of Holtec’s wallet, however. The company used Pilgrim’s decommissioning trust fund to make those gifts.

    The NRC chastised Holtec in a Feb. 29 letter, saying that community celebrations are not “legitimate decommissioning activities.”

    When Holtec took ownership of Pilgrim in 2019, the $1.1-billion decommissioning trust fund was part of the deal — what remains in the trust after decommissioning ends is retained by the company as profit. As of December 2022, $518 million remained in the account. Holtec representatives recently extended the timeline for decommissioning Pilgrim by eight years to give the fund time to earn more interest.

    On the same day it sent its notice to Holtec regarding the expenses at Pilgrim, the NRC sent a violation notice to the company regarding improper use of the Oyster Creek nuclear plant’s decommissioning fund. There, the company used $62,000 from the fund for a “celebration day for Lacey Township, donation to a food bank and certain upgrades to the local community.”

    Holtec issued the same statement to news media regarding the violations at Pilgrim and at Oyster Creek: “We take our responsibility as watchful stewards of the trust fund very seriously. We are also deeply committed to our local communities we serve as part of the decommissioning process. It is in that spirit as a strong community partner that these charitable expenditures were made, as part of our regular community outreach and engagement activities. We take any violation very seriously and have already taken corrective actions to ensure the amount was restored to the trust fund, with interest, and that this issue does not recur with our future community and charitable contributions.”

    At Indian Point in New York, Holtec spent $63,000 from the decommissioning trust fund on events such as parades and softball teams. The NRC wrote to Holtec on Feb. 22, saying that the company had violated the fund’s restrictions.

    In these three cases, Holtec has been ordered to provide federal regulators with a timeline for paying the money back to the trust funds and an outline of measures taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

    In Michigan, between January and March 2023, Holtec improperly used $57,000 from the Palisades decommissioning fund for activities related to the restart of the reactor as well as on community events. In a letter sent to Holtec on Feb. 20, federal regulators chastised the company but said it would not cite it with a violation notice because Holtec had entered it into its “corrective action program” and was already working to restore the money.

    Regarding its infraction at Palisades, Holtec had claimed it had inadvertently used the decommissioning fund because of “mis-coding,” according to the NRC’s inspection report. Holtec performed “additional training of staff” to avoid future missteps, the inspection report said.

    Holtec purchased the Palisades plant in Covert, Mich. in June 2022 shortly after it was permanently shut down. While the company initially planned to decommission the reactor, it has since reversed that decision and is working on restarting it.

    Last month, Mass. Attorney General Andrea Campbell filed a civil complaint against Holtec in Suffolk Superior Court for a long list of violations related to improper handling and disposal of asbestos-laced debris. As part of a settlement Holtec agreed to pay $200,000.

    The focus at the March 25 meeting of the Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel will once again be on the disposal of radioactive wastewater, which also contains several other nonradioactive pollutants.

    The Mass. Department of Environmental Protection has directed Holtec to provide an analysis of the contaminants known to be in the wastewater, based on sampling done last April and any additional pollutants that may have been released into the water since then.

    The company proposes to filter the wastewater and release it into Cape Cod Bay and has applied for the state and federal permits required to do that. Meanwhile the company has evaporated 200,000 gallons of the 1.1 million total from the reactor building’s vents, using submersible heaters to speed up the process.

    VIOLATIONS

    State Sues Holtec for Mishandling Asbestos at Pilgrim Reactor Site

    Attorney general says demolition put workers and residents at risk

    By

    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 disposing of asbestos-laced debris during demolition work at the plant.

    The complaint cites three separate events 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 28-page civil suit was filed in Suffolk Superior Court on Feb. 14.

    The next week, the attorney general’s office confirmed that the two sides are working on a settlement. No details were provided before the Independent’s deadline this week.

    Holtec spokesperson Patrick O’Brien said he had not yet seen a settlement agreement so he could not confirm its details, including the amount his company would have to pay. O’Brien said he believed it would be between $200,000 and $250,000.

    The company’s critics were dismayed: “$200,000 is nothing to Holtec,” said Diane Turco, president of the advocacy group Cape Downwinders.

    Mary Lampert, who is a member of the state-appointed Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP), said the asbestos violations were typical of Holtec’s record.

    “Holtec’s motto is ‘It’s cheaper to pay the fine than obey the law,’ ” Lampert said.

    Repeated Violations

    The civil complaint, signed by Assistant Attorney General John Craig of the office’s environmental division, states that Holtec did not hire the required asbestos inspector before demolishing a 32-foot water tower in 2021. Asbestos-laced paint on the tower’s exterior was not removed and properly stored, 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, the lawsuit says. It was then taken in three large open-top trailers to a recycling facility in Middleborough that is not licensed to accept such waste. The material, still not labeled as containing asbestos, was stored and processed there and then transferred to the Schnitzer Steel scrap metal facility in Everett.

    Under state regulations, renovation and demolition cannot take place until asbestos is properly removed. The demolition area must be sealed, and filters must be used to prevent asbestos fibers from leaking into the air.

    The state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) must be notified 10 days before a demolition if asbestos is present. Typically, the asbestos is soaked so that it doesn’t become airborne, and then it is stored in clearly labeled, sealed containers.

    Holtec did not take any of those precautions, the state charged.

    Turco said she reviewed the videotape of a 2021 NDCAP meeting from around the time the water tower was being demolished. “At the meeting, the public was reassured by Holtec representative Pat O’Brien that ‘abatement’ of asbestos was under control,” Turco said. “They lied then, and they lie now.”

    The second alleged violation in the lawsuit took place in January 2022, when Holtec’s contractor started demolishing 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 Holtec again did not notify the state 10 days before demolition. The warehouse was not sealed off, and required filters were not installed, allowing unfiltered exhaust to be released in the area. The commingled debris was cleaned up and put in containers without a 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, according to the lawsuit. The company’s actions “risked the health of people at and around the work location and increased the likelihood that asbestos was released into the air,” Craig wrote.

    A third alleged violation took place last September, when Holtec failed to check a pipe and gasket for asbestos prior to repair work. The gasket contained 40 percent Chrysotile asbestos, Craig wrote. Again, Holtec had not properly notified DEP or hired an asbestos inspector.

    A Settlement

    A few days after the lawsuit was filed, O’Brien issued a statement on Holtec’s behalf.

    “We continue to focus on a safe, efficient decommissioning of Pilgrim Station,” it said. “We meet regularly with Mass. DEP on our work containing asbestos and ensuring compliance with regulations. We maintain contracts with licensed site professionals and hygienists to ensure compliance. We report any material that is found unexpectedly during work evolutions. We look forward to continuing to make progress on the safe dismantlement of the facility. We have a settlement agreement with the AG regarding these unfortunate incidents and at no time was our work found to be at fault as part of the settlement.”

    Turco was outraged by the claim that Holtec was not at fault.

    “By not admitting guilt and just paying a minimal fine, this nuclear mafia gets away with endangering the public health again and again,” she said.

    Holtec is still in the hot seat for evaporating 200,000 gallons of wastewater from Pilgrim’s reactor systems through the reactor building’s vents — and using submersible heaters to speed up the process. The evaporation of radioactive wastewater continues despite public objections.

    At an NDCAP meeting in late January, the DEP directed Holtec to submit an analysis of contaminants known to be in the wastewater based on sampling done last April and any additional pollutants that may have been released into the water and then evaporated since then.

    Results of that analysis should be available at the NDCAP meeting in late March.

    OCEAN SANCTUARY

    State Agency Denies Holtec’s Permit Change

    DEP’s draft decision blocks path to nuclear wastewater release for now

    By

    PLYMOUTH — The state Dept. of Environmental Protection issued a draft determination on July 24 denying a permit modification that would have allowed Holtec, the company decommissioning the shuttered Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, to release over one million gallons of wastewater into Cape Cod Bay.

    The decision was based on a state law protecting water bodies, including Cape Cod Bay, that are designated “ocean sanctuaries.”

    Seth Pickering, deputy regional director of DEP’s Bureau of Air and Waste, explained the draft decision during Monday’s meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP) in Plymouth. “The Ocean Sanctuaries Act prohibits the dumping and discharge of commercial, municipal, domestic, or industrial wastes into ocean sanctuaries,” Pickering said. “The wastewater that the facility proposes to discharge qualifies as industrial wastewater, and therefore discharges are prohibited under the Act.”

    The wastewater, although treated, would still contain both radioactive and nonradioactive contaminants.

    The state Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM), the agency that oversees the Ocean Sanctuaries Act, agreed with DEP’s interpretation of the law. That office’s director, Lisa Berry Engler, sent a letter to the DEP on July 24 citing several sections of the act that would prohibit the release. “CZM’s analysis reaches the same conclusion as MassDEP’s interpretation of the Act in this matter,” Engler wrote.

    Holtec says the battle isn’t over yet. At Monday’s meeting, Holtec’s compliance manager David Noyes said the company intends to look at its options, which include submitting additional information to support its case for the water release and exercising its right to request a public hearing.

    The draft determination requires a 30-day public comment period — through Aug. 28. After considering the comments, DEP can finalize its draft decision.

    “We are disappointed by the state’s denial of our permit modification for discharge of treated water from Pilgrim Station,” Holtec spokesman Patrick O’Brien said in a statement on behalf of the company. He called the water the company wants to release “well within safe limits.”

    “We will continue with the EPA modification process,” O’Brien wrote. That means the company is preparing for the DEP’s decision to fall through: a permit modification would need to be approved federally by the Environmental Protection Agency, but DEP approval on a change to the surface water discharge permit would have to come first.

    O’Brien took the position that the permitting process has slowed economic development at the site. His statement continued: “This process has already delayed the completion of the project for an additional four years, impacted the workforce on site and further changes when the site can be returned to be an economic driver for the Plymouth Community.”

    An Example for Others

    DEP’s draft decision comes 18 months after Holtec announced its plan to release the water into the bay, triggering objections from the public, federal and state legislators for the region, local officials, and the fishing and tourism industries.

    Diane Turco, president of the Cape Downwinders, which is now part of a coalition called Save Our Bay, praised Gov. Maura Healey and her administration in an interview after the July 24 decision was announced. “I look forward to keeping this going to seal the deal to halt Holtec,” Turco said. “Then we can be an example for communities across the country that are going to have to fight Holtec over this same issue.”

    Holtec is currently decommissioning the Oyster Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey, where it has released wastewater, and the Indian Point plant in New York, where officials and others are opposed to a release of water into the Hudson River.

    Healey, while she was the state attorney general, was instrumental in crafting an agreement requiring Holtec to obey state laws. “I’m glad to see this tentative decision from MassDEP,” Healey wrote in a statement. She said that her administration will continue to monitor Holtec’s role in the decommissioning at Pilgrim.

    U.S. Sen. Edward Markey also issued a statement calling the MassDEP decision a win “for the environment and for all of the people, businesses, and organizations that rely on Cape Cod Bay’s reputation for clean and safe water.”

    “The denial of Holtec’s permit modification is an incredibly meaningful win for the countless Cape and Islands advocates who have long worked to block the discharge of radioactive wastewater into our bay,” said State Sen. Julian Cyr in a statement to the Independent.

    Gray Areas?

    NDCAP member James Lampert said the public certainly didn’t anticipate it would take 18 months for DEP to issue a draft decision, and he wondered how long it might take the agency to finalize its draft.

    Pickering would not make a prediction about that. The 30-day public comment period could be extended at the request of Holtec or those who have submitted comments, “if the department determines that such an extension would be in the public interest,” Pickering said.

    Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod and an NDCAP member, said he hopes the draft decision will allow the panel and the public to move on to other important matters related to the decommissioning of the Plymouth nuclear plant.

    When the plant was producing electricity, its periodic releases of wastewater into the bay were allowed under an exemption in the Ocean Sanctuaries Act. Now that the plant has been shut down, that exemption no longer applies.

    “It changes the applicability of the Act entirely, and as a result we don’t need to any longer get into the mind-numbing conversations about what level of tritium is okay, what’s happening at Fukushima, and who thinks it’s okay and who doesn’t,” Gottlieb said during Monday’s meeting.

    “The plain black-letter reading of the law is that a new discharge from a point source into an ocean sanctuary, of which Cape Cod Bay is one, is prohibited,” Gottlieb said. “End of conversation.”

    Noyes responded that the DEP’s decision is not final. “There is nothing in this that’s black and white legal until we get through the process,” he said.

    If the denial is finalized, Holtec will have the option of appealing it in Superior Court.

    Public comments on the DEP’s draft decision should be sent to: [email protected]. Comments may also be mailed to Cathy Coniaris, MassDEP’s Surface Water Discharge Program, 100 Cambridge St., Boston, MA 02114.

    A YEAR IN RADIOACTIVITY

    No Decision on Release of Wastewater Into Cape Cod Bay

    A yearlong debate ends with state agencies testing Pilgrim’s water

    By

    PLYMOUTH — Watchdogs who had tracked the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s faltering performance in its final years were relieved when the reactor was permanently shut down in 2019.

    But that feeling was short-lived.

    Holtec Decommissioning International, the company that purchased the shuttered reactor and is decommissioning it, announced late in 2021 that it planned to release 1.1 million gallons of radioactive water from the plant’s spent fuel pool and other systems into Cape Cod Bay. The news mobilized state and federal legislators who represent the region, those working in the seafood and tourist industries, environmental groups, and individuals.

    The year 2022 has seen a bitter back and forth between Holtec and the public about whether the release should be allowed.

    At first, the public outcry prompted Holtec to commit to no water releases in 2022 while the company looked at other options. Those include evaporating the water, trucking it to a licensed disposal facility, or storing it onsite. Holtec decision makers, however, never took the release off the table.

    Maura Healey, now the governor-elect, said as state attorney general that she intended to block Holtec’s planned release because it would violate state and federal wastewater discharge permits.

    The federal Environmental Protection Agency sent letters to Holtec advising the company that its current discharge permit would not allow the release of spent fuel pool water. A modification to the permit would be required, the EPA said — and review of an application to modify a permit could take up to a year.

    The company has not, however, applied for the needed modification, although Holtec spokesman Patrick O’Brien said last week that the company plans to file that request “in the near future.”

    In early May, U.S. Sen. Edward Markey held a Congressional field hearing in Plymouth. During the hearing, Holtec’s Krishna Singh said that the public was “vilifying the water as somehow inimical to the biological ecosystem.”

    At the hearing, Markey secured a commitment from Singh to allow representatives from the state’s depts. of Environmental Protection and Public Health to be present when samples are drawn from the spent fuel pool, reactor cavity, and other systems.

    Those samples are being taken now, and the DEP will test them for nonradioactive contaminants that come under the company’s water discharge permit, while the DPH will identify radioactive elements in the samples. Results will then be forwarded to a panel of scientists selected by Sen. Markey.

    Information on the sampling will be presented publicly at the next meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel at the end of January.

    The state legislators representing Cape Cod also worked to stop the release of the wastewater into the bay but were not successful. An amendment to the economic development bill to establish a commission to do a two-year study of the effects of the release won unanimous support from both the House and Senate in November, only to be vetoed by Gov. Charlie Baker.

    “Though this was obviously not what we were hoping for, I am still encouraged by the progress we are making at holding Holtec accountable,” wrote state Sen. Susan Moran, who represents the Plymouth and Barnstable district, in an email to the Independent. “I was encouraged to hear last week that the EPA clearly stated to the company that any moves to release the water before a new permit is issued would subject the company to fines and possible criminal charges.”

    Kelly Trice, president of Holtec Decommissioning International, responded to the EPA letter with his own letter, sent Dec. 19. Trice said that statements a company representative had made during a Nov. 28 public meeting in Plymouth “were misconstrued to imply that Holtec is contemplating intentional noncompliance with the Clean Water Act.”

    “This is not true,” said Trice in his letter. “Please be assured that we will only discharge when in full compliance with all state and federal regulations and permitted requirements.”

    Sen. Markey welcomed the news. “I’m glad that Holtec has finally committed to following the law,” he wrote in a statement.

    Holtec has said the wastewater at the plant will continue to be used throughout the first quarter of 2023 to shield workers as they dismantle radioactive components underwater.

    Both Sen. Moran and state Rep. Sarah Peake have said they plan to refile the amendment that Baker vetoed as a separate bill when the new legislative session begins in January.

    RADIOACTIVITY

    Holtec Says Regulated Contaminants Will Be Treated Away

    The EPA does not regulate radionuclides

    By

    PLYMOUTH — The owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station has indicated it is closer to releasing radioactive wastewater from the plant’s spent fuel pool, reactor cavity, and other systems into Cape Cod Bay.

    Holtec Decommissioning International announced a year ago that it would release 1.1 million gallons of treated wastewater into Cape Cod Bay in a series of small batches as part of the decommissioning process. A public outcry ensued, and those opposed included state and federal legislators, environmental groups, and members of the fishing and tourism industries.

    Holtec agreed to delay the release while it considered other options, but the company has never taken the release off the table.

    Now, in a Nov. 17 letter to U.S. Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Rep. William Keating, Holtec President Kelly Trice has stated that recent sampling of the plant’s wastewater, which has not yet been treated to remove pollutants, showed it is of a “higher water quality than the current water composition of Plymouth Harbor.”

    The legislators wrote to Trice earlier in the month asking why the company had not responded to a June 17 letter from the Environmental Protection Agency. That letter said the discharge would clearly violate the plant’s current discharge permit. In it, Ken Moraff, water division director of the EPA’s northeast office, told Trice that Holtec would need a modification to the permit to release spent fuel pool water or other wastewater generated during decommissioning.

    With its latest sampling, Holtec appears to assert it will not need that modification. Trice’s letter argues that all of the contaminants listed in the plant’s discharge permit were below detection levels — except for copper, lead, zinc, and nickel. Those would be removed when the water is treated, he wrote, making the water “of equal or higher quality than the existing water in Cape Cod Bay.”

    The company does not currently report on radionuclides levels because, it says, the water is being used to aid dismantling of equipment and the levels currently fluctuate. And, in any case, the EPA does not regulate radionuclides. The EPA’s authority to stop the wastewater release would need to be based on the presence of other pollutants.

    The EPA has not yet commented on Holtec’s recent sampling. But in the agency’s June letter to Trice, EPA director Moraff said Holtec was misinterpreting the permit requirements: “Your reading of the permit is, in fact, plainly inconsistent with the unambiguous terms of the permit.”

    Before receiving the Nov. 17 letter from Trice, Markey, Warren, and Keating had urged Holtec to respond to that EPA directive.

    “To provide clarity to our offices, local residents, and the many businesses and organizations that rely on Cape Cod Bay’s reputation for clean and safe water, we ask that Holtec confirm publicly as soon as possible that it will not discharge any Pilgrim wastewater without first obtaining the EPA’s authorization and the necessary permit modification,” wrote the three members of Congress.

    Dave Deegan, regional spokesman for the EPA, confirmed last week that Holtec has not yet requested a modification to its discharge permit. The request had been expected to trigger an extensive review process.

    “Given the complexities of the issues and the public interest in this case, we presume it will take more than 12 months,” Deegan said.

     Baker Vetoes a Study

    Earlier this month, state lawmakers showed solidarity with their Southeastern Massachusetts colleagues by unanimously approving an amendment attached to the $3.7-billion economic development bill that would have delayed the release until November 2024 while a commission studied the potential environmental and economic effects.

    Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of that amendment on Nov. 10 stunned both lawmakers and the public — perhaps no one more so than longtime Pilgrim opponent Diane Turco, president of the Cape Downwinders.

    “Obviously, Gov. Baker wasn’t listening to the people,” said Turco. With the veto, Turco said, Baker has “completely failed the democratic process and the people he was elected to serve.”

    State Rep. Sarah Peake expressed her own outrage at the governor’s veto. “He did it without even so much as a heads-up to the Cape and Islands and Plymouth delegations,” Peake said. The Provincetown Democrat is the 2nd Assistant House Majority Leader.

    Peake said options for immediate action are limited. “I’m not sure right now what the opportunity may be for the House to return in a special session to override the vetoes in the economic development bill,” she said. “That would be my first choice, but the fallback plan will be to file this as a standalone bill as the session begins in January.”

    The fact that the proposal already passed both branches as an amendment should expedite that, Peake said.

    Cape & Islands Sen. Julian Cyr called the governor’s action “shocking and disappointing.”

    “How shameful for the governor to impede corporate accountability and environmental stewardship with his veto pen on the way out the door,” said the Truro Democrat in an email. “Cape Codders and South Shore residents deserve better. We will not allow this callous action to prevent our voices from being heard.”

    State Sen. Susan Moran of Falmouth pointed out that the amendment Baker vetoed on Nov. 10 had been adopted by legislators in July. Since then, Moran said, she met several times with members of the governor’s team in the depts. of public health and environmental protection. “At no time did anyone ever relay concerns with this important amendment,” she said.

    Mark DeCristoforo, executive director of the Massachusetts Seafood Collaborative, remains optimistic despite the recent setbacks because, he said, the proposal to release the water is ultimately illegal. “We’re quite used to adversity, and the powers of greed are always difficult to overcome,” said DeCristoforo in an email. “We will carry on with the tools at our disposal.”

    Holtec will present its water test results to the public at the Nov. 28 meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel, a group made up of representatives from several state agencies, local leaders, and citizens.

    Results will include the non-radioactive pollutants currently in the water, which Trice referred to in his letter, along with a list of radioactive elements historically present in the plant’s water, based on releases done when the plant was operating.

    The radioactive compounds in the discharge are under the authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Agency spokesman Neil Sheehan has said Holtec can release the water without notifying the NRC as long as the release is within federal limits.

    RADIOACTIVITY

    Law Limiting Pilgrim Water Release Awaits Baker’s Signature

    Sen. Moran’s amendment is attached to economic development bill

    By

    PLYMOUTH — A Holtec official said at a July public hearing that, if a state law prohibited it, his company would not release a million gallons of treated radioactive water from Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s spent fuel pool and other systems into Cape Cod Bay.

    At the time, passage of such a law seemed unlikely. But now it’s sitting on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk, awaiting his signature. He must act by this Sunday.

    David Noyes, Holtec’s senior compliance manager, made the statement during a contentious meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP) in Plymouth. Cape Downwinders President Diane Turco asked Noyes if Holtec Decommissioning International, the company that owns and is decommissioning the Plymouth nuclear plant, would comply with an amendment limiting discharges that was attached to the pending economic development bill if the proposal became law.

    Noyes responded, “I told you, if the state law is on the books that prevents us from discharging, we will not discharge.”

    The amendment, proposed by state Sen. Susan Moran of the Plymouth and Barnstable District, aimed at halting any release of processed water or other liquids from the spent fuel pool and other reactor systems if they contained elevated levels of radioactive contaminants, including tritium or boron, until a two-year study of the environmental and economic effects is completed.

    Holtec announced late last year that it planned to release more than a million gallons of treated effluent from plant systems into the bay. Since then, environmentalists and members of the fishing and tourism industries have been working to stop the plan.

    At the time Noyes made his statement, the House and Senate were within days of ending their formal legislative sessions, making the odds of passage remote. Ultimately the economic development bill, along with the amendment, was tabled.

    While the House and Senate continue to meet in informal session until the end of 2022, any bill approved during that time requires a unanimous vote.

    Last week, the unexpected happened. A somewhat streamlined economic development bill was unanimously approved by both the House and Senate, with Moran’s amendment attached. The governor must decide by Sunday whether he will sign or veto it.

    Under the amendment’s provisions, a 13-member commission would look at the effects of a discharge of spent fuel pool wastewater on the fishing, aquaculture, tourism, and restaurant industries and any other sectors the commission deems relevant. As part of its work, the panel would hold public forums in Dukes, Plymouth, Bristol, and Barnstable counties.

    The commission would have until Nov. 1, 2024 to produce a report on its findings and recommendations. No discharge from the plant could begin until at least 90 days after the commission’s report.

    Opponents expect Holtec to keep its word if Gov. Baker signs the bill. They have the videotaped statements from Noyes as evidence.

    “A strong voice for the people, Sen. Moran deserves tremendous kudos for her persistence to protect our communities from Holtec’s plan to dump their radioactive garbage into our bay,” said Turco in an email. “She never gave up on us.”

    “So much of our economy and local identity is tied to the ocean; 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,” said Moran on Tuesday. “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.”

    Holtec spokesman Patrick O’Brien said in an email, “As we have always done, we will comply with our permits related to the potential future discharge and should a discharge be deemed illegal, we would look at alternative means of disposal.”

    O’Brien said that four options remain on the table, including evaporating the water, storing it onsite, or shipping it to a disposal facility. While the company continues to favor the release of the water into Cape Cod Bay, O’Brien said it may use a combination of all four.

    State Sen. Julian Cyr co-sponsored Moran’s amendment. “The release of contaminated water into Cape Cod Bay has the potential to significantly impact our environment and the lives of locals,” said the Truro Democrat in a statement issued last week. Moran’s amendment will ensure the public has a voice and the process is transparent, Cyr said, adding, “I am thankful to Sen. Moran for her diligence and for standing up for our community members.”

    Mary Lampert, an NDCAP member and director of the Duxbury citizens group Pilgrim Watch, said it’s up to the governor now. “These provisions will protect an over $2 billion annual ‘blue economy’ at no cost to the Commonwealth,” Lampert said in an email. “And Holtec has other options to dispose of Pilgrim’s contaminated water.”

    Holtec plans to present a list of nonradioactive contaminants in Pilgrim’s spent fuel pool and other systems at the NDCAP Nov. 28 meeting. The company will present historical data on what radioactive elements would be present.

    PROBABILITIES

    New Study Concludes Pilgrim Plumes Would Hit Outer Cape

    Wastewater would circle the bay and flow from Race Point to the back shore

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — A Woods Hole oceanographer has completed an extensive study of probable pathways the contaminated water will take if one million gallons from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s spent fuel pool, reactor cavity, and other systems are released into Cape Cod Bay.

    RADIOACTIVITY

    Holtec Says It Will Delay Decision on Water Release

    The company plans to use the water on-site until the first quarter of 2023

    By

    PLYMOUTH — Holtec Decommissioning International, the company that now owns the former Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, has announced it will extend its timeline for the potential release of 1.1 million gallons of radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay.

    Opponents packed a Sept. 26 meeting of the citizens advisory group on the Pilgrim nuclear plant’s decommission. Holtec brought its own scientist to the meeting. (Photo by Christine Legere)

    The reason Holtec gave for the reprieve at the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP) meeting on Monday was that it plans to use the water from its spent fuel pool, reactor cavity, and other systems to shield workers who are dismantling radioactive components. The work is done remotely, with machinery placed under water to prevent parts from emitting radiation into the air. The work is expected to continue until the first quarter of 2023.

    More than 100 residents and members of the fishing and tourism industries rallied in front of Plymouth Town Hall on Monday before packing a meeting of NDCAP, a group established to offer guidance on the dismantling of the Pilgrim plant.

    Public opposition to a proposed release of the water into the bay has been building since last November, when Holtec announced its plan. In reaction, Holtec at first agreed to consider other options, including storing the contaminated water on-site, evaporating it, or trucking it to a licensed disposal facility.

    But Holtec’s president, Kris Singh, has repeatedly made it clear that releasing the water into the bay is his preferred option. He told U.S. Sen. Ed Markey in a letter in June that trucking it away is off the table because of the company’s commitment to environmental justice — meaning it would be fairer to have the waste disposed of here rather than in another place. Opponents have argued that other places are less environmentally sensitive and already set up as disposal sites.

    Moving the water would be expensive; it carries a price tag of $20 million, Singh said. He also said evaporation involved high heat that would probably require the use of diesel generators. But keeping the water stored on-site could delay decommissioning.

    Singh committed to allowing the water to be tested by an independent lab during a congressional hearing Sen. Markey held in Plymouth in May. According to the senator’s office, Markey has secured an agreement to allow the Mass. Dept. of Public Health (DPH) to be present during testing and to get samples for independent analysis by the agency.

    David Noyes, senior compliance manager for Holtec, announced that commitment during Monday’s meeting. Noyes said the company would allow the DPH to sample the water in the spent fuel pool, reactor cavity, and other systems before it is filtered to remove some of the contaminants. This could be done incrementally as the water is used over the next four or five months, if DPH prefers, and following treatment if the option to release the water into Cape Cod Bay is chosen.

    Noyes said Holtec would give a presentation at the November NDCAP meeting revealing what other contaminants — nonradioactive ones — are found in Pilgrim’s water. He said historical data on the radioactive elements that would be present would also be shared. Using current data is not practical because the water is still in use and its radioactive levels could change, he said.

    A Holtec scientist, James Conca, on Monday tried to assure the public that there is no scientific evidence tritium causes harm. The radionuclide, present in the 1.1 million gallons, binds to water and cannot be filtered out. “Perception is the problem,” Conca said, defending the safety of the radioactive water the company wants to release.

    Many observers remained unconvinced.

    “The bottom line is it costs $20 million to legally transport this,” shouted Duxbury charter boat owner Peter Dalton from the audience. “It’s going into Dr. Singh’s pocket, and it’s screwing all of us fishermen and lobstermen.”

    Conca agreed with Woods Hole oceanographer Irina Rypina, who has said that a discharge from the plant would be carried by bottom currents that flow south, splitting at Race Point, with some of it stalling along the shoreline of Cape Cod and the rest hugging the coast of the Outer Cape. The water that would flow into the bay would stall in the mid-Cape area for several days, Rypina said.

    Conca agreed it would be important to avoid that. “The idea is to work with the Woods Hole folks on when and how to release the water when the current is flowing north,” Conca said. That comment drew grumbling opposition from those living north of the plant.

    During the meeting, Noyes was asked by panel member Henrietta Cosentino why Holtec continues to consider releasing the water into the bay “when it’s against the law.” He answered that “if it is determined to be illegal, we will not discharge the water.”

    James Lampert, a Duxbury attorney and outspoken opponent of the water release, said it would be illegal under both federal and state law because there are nonradioactive pollutants in the water that would not comply with the discharge permit issued by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Dept. of Environmental Protection.

    Furthermore, Lampert said, the Mass. Ocean Sanctuary Act prohibits dumping or discharging commercial or industrial waste into an ocean sanctuary. “Cape Cod Bay, Plymouth Bay, Duxbury Bay, and Kingston Bay are all ocean sanctuaries,” he added.

    The Duxbury attorney noted that Attorney General Maura Healey has said she will prevent Holtec from dumping the water.

    In a written statement released Monday, a spokesperson for the attorney general repeated previous communications on Healey’s stance: “Our office will do everything possible to hold Holtec accountable and ensure public health and safety throughout the decommissioning process. We are prepared to take action to halt any violations of state and federal water discharge permits.”

    RADIOACTIVITY

    State Legislation to Stop Radioactive Water Release Fails

    Those fighting Holtec ask the attorney general to act

    By

    PLYMOUTH — A plan to release one million gallons of radioactive water from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s systems into Cape Cod Bay, announced last fall by Holtec Decommissioning International, the company that now owns the plant, has had officials and residents scrambling to prevent it.

    Brent Harold and Susan Weegar were among those protesting the release of radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay at the July 4th parade in Wellfleet. (Photo by Marnie Crawford Samuelson)

    Most recently, a handful of bills were filed in the state legislature by regional delegates to prohibit the release, but none won the necessary support by the July 31 end of the state’s legislative session.

    Many had pinned their hopes on a last-minute amendment to a comprehensive economic development bill that would have delayed any release of radioactive water for at least two years while a committee studied its potential effects. The bill and amendment are stalled indefinitely in a conference committee.

    The economic development bill failed to move forward after Gov. Charlie Baker announced a revenue surplus for the year was expected to trigger a 1986 law that would return up to $3 billion to taxpayers. Under the law, known as 62F, if state revenue growth outstrips growth in wages and salaries in any fiscal year, the excess money must go back to taxpayers.

    Anticipating that 62F will be triggered, lawmakers kept the economic development bill in conference committee out of concern there would not be funds sufficient to cover its provisions.

    The state Senate and House are now in informal session until January. While they may take votes, those are generally on uncontroversial matters. They are voice votes and must be unanimous for a proposal to pass.

    The amendment to establish a study committee prior to any release of water by Holtec had been filed by Sen. Susan Moran and passed in the Senate version of the economic development bill. It was not in the House version. To be included in the final version, Moran’s amendment would have to be among the provisions agreed to by the conference committee.

    Moran remains hopeful.

    “While the amendment in the economic development bill is still being debated by the conference committee, the door is still open, and the legislature knows that greater transparency and public input is a priority for communities managing the impact of nuclear decommissioning,” said Moran in a written statement on Monday.

    There has been some talk that the House and Senate may call an emergency formal session to handle the economic development bill.

    State Rep. Sarah Peake, a member of the House leadership, is doubtful that such a session will happen. “Senate and House leaders are telegraphing they’re not interested in doing that,” said the Provincetown Democrat in a phone interview Monday.

    “What we can and will do is file the amendment in January as a separate piece of legislation and fast-track it,” said Peake. She called that “a worst-case scenario” since Holtec may well have released the water into the bay by then.

    “As a state legislator, my continued frustration is that the nuclear industry is regulated at the federal level,” Peake said. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authority over radioactive contaminants, while the Environmental Protection Agency has authority over other contaminants.

    “We’ll just continue to work with the attorney general and do what we can to keep putting up roadblocks,” said Peake. She said she would also look to federal legislators, including Rep. William Keating and U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, to “work their magic.”

    Holtec’s President Kris Singh committed during a Congressional hearing in June to allowing an independent laboratory to test the water from the spent fuel pool and other systems prior to deciding on its release. Markey’s office has not yet indicated who will do the testing.

    Meanwhile, activist groups are appealing to the state attorney general to step in. “Attorney General Maura Healey is the only person with the authority to stop the dumping at this juncture,” according to a recent public statement by Save Our Bay, a coalition of citizens, environmentalists, and the seafood, tourism, and hospitality industries.

    Diane Turco, director of the Cape Downwinders, which is part of the Save Our Bay coalition, said in an interview that “it’s time for Maura Healey to get off the bench and into the game. The attorney general must act and enforce the Massachusetts laws and stop Holtec from dumping.”

    Healey’s spokesperson Chloe Gotsis recently said the release of the water would violate the company’s state permits. While adding that the attorney general “is prepared to take action to prevent violations,” Gotsis did not say what the action would be.

    Moran has urged local authorities to raise their voices. “Holtec needs to be constantly reminded that they are not the ones who get to decide the future of Cape Cod Bay,” she said in her statement. “Our communities get to decide.”

    The Duxbury Select Board recently wrote to Healey asking her to take preemptive action, such as seeking an injunction against Holtec. Turco said plans are in the works to ask select boards across the Cape to write similar letters.

    A source with knowledge of Healey’s views told the Independent that she is prepared to take action to prevent violations of the law but declined to be quoted so as not to divulge the attorney general’s legal strategy.

    Local leaders and environmental groups have urged Holtec to ship the water to a licensed disposal facility, but company President Kris Singh said in a letter to Sen. Markey in June that the option to ship had been discarded because it “runs counter to our basic tenets of environmental justice.”

    Holtec’s decision may also have been based on the estimated cost of $20 million.

    Remaining options include evaporating the water, which Holtec said would require large amounts of heat and possible use of diesel generators, and storage onsite, which Singh warned could delay the completion of decommissioning and site release.

    Holtec has said it is currently studying all the options and will announce how it plans to handle the radioactive wastewater this fall.

    HOLTEC’S TREASURE

    Holtec Expects to Make Huge Profit off Pilgrim Plant

    Finance report predicts that $500 million or more would go to company

    By

    PLYMOUTH — When Holtec International took ownership of the shuttered Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in 2019, it came with a decommissioning trust fund with more than $1 billion in it. The money, paid by the utility’s customers over the 28 years the plant was owned by Boston Edison, was to cover the cost of dismantling the reactor once it shut down.

    While state officials and citizen groups have worried that the money could run out before decommissioning is complete, company projections don’t show that account ending in the red.

    In fact, Holtec’s latest financial report predicts the company will have $252 million in the fund when the job is done, thanks to decades of accruing interest. Holtec spokesman Patrick O’Brien agreed with an analysis of the report’s data by the Independent.

    The company’s financial projections extend to 2063, reflecting several decades of managing the spent fuel on site. The decommissioning itself is expected to be finished by 2027.

    The $252 million left in the trust fund won’t be the only source of profit for Holtec. Reimbursements from the federal Dept. of Energy (DoE) for the expense of managing the radioactive spent fuel on site could boost Holtec’s bottom line by another several hundred million.

    The Decommissioning Fund

    Based on Holtec’s annual financial report published in March, $497 million had been spent from the trust fund as of December 2021. The fund’s balance, thanks to accruing interest, stood at $825 million.

    Spending is divided into three categories: license termination, spent fuel management, and site restoration. Based on projected expenses through 2063, Holtec anticipates the total cost for license termination to be $548 million, spent fuel management $579 million, and site restoration $33 million.

    That puts the projected grand total for decommissioning Pilgrim at $1.16 billion. Thanks to accruing interest, the company has projected the fund will still have $252 million if all goes as planned. That money would go to Holtec as profit.

    Holtec will also be able to sue the DoE for reimbursement of money taken from the decommissioning fund for spent fuel management. So far, $237 million has been spent at Pilgrim for that purpose, and another $342 million of expenses is projected, putting the total at over half a billion dollars.

    Under the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the U.S. DoE committed to begin removing spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste from plant sites around the country by January 1998. There is no national repository to store the fuel, however. Nevada’s Congressional delegation has repeatedly blocked the construction of a repository there, and no other possible location has ever been established.

    The waste remains at the various individual nuclear plants, and plant owners have successfully sued the DoE for breach of contract to recoup their costs for managing the fuel. Holtec has indicated it plans to do the same thing.

    For example, the owner of the Maine Yankee, Yankee Rowe, and Connecticut Yankee nuclear plants has collected $575.5 million to date in damages related to spent fuel storage from the DoE.

    At a recent Congressional hearing in Plymouth, Seth Schofield, senior appellate counsel for the Mass. attorney general’s office, said any reimbursement for spent fuel costs from the DoE should go back into the decommissioning trust fund, since the money had come out of the fund to cover spent fuel management.

    Krishna Singh, Holtec’s president and CEO, disagreed. “You forget: we as a company take the risk,” he said. Holtec would therefore keep the money, Singh said.

    For Pilgrim, Holtec may not be awarded the full $579 million in damages for spent fuel costs, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “How much of that amount will be recoverable from the Department of Energy settlements with the plant owner is uncertain,” said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan in an email.

    Other Expenses

    Holtec has other expenses related to Plymouth as its host community. It also has obligations to some surrounding communities for emergency planning, thanks to a hard-won court settlement with the state attorney general’s office.

    Plymouth isn’t getting the amount the town is used to, however. In 2014, Entergy Corp., the company that owned Pilgrim at the time, paid the town $10 million under its PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement. The amount dropped to $9.5 million for a few years, then slid to $7 million for fiscal 2020, the first year Pilgrim was closed. In fiscal 2021, Holtec paid Plymouth $6.5 million.

    The town was unable to negotiate a PILOT for the current year, and therefore sent Holtec a real estate tax bill for about $3.5 million, which the company paid.

    Holtec has also reduced the amount of money it has paid to the Dept. of Public Health for radiation monitoring, and to the Mass. Emergency Management Agency for emergency planning. The region’s legislators, led by Sen. Julian Cyr of Truro, have proposed an attachment to the state budget that would bolster funding to keep the testing program in place.

    Radioactive Water

    The Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP), established to advise on Pilgrim’s decommissioning and made up of representatives from state agencies, local officials, and citizen representatives, will hold a hybrid meeting on May 23 at 6:30 p.m., to be aired from Plymouth Town Hall. The agenda had not yet been posted as of the Independent’s deadline.

    NDCAP member Mary Lampert has asked Holtec to provide at the meeting a list of the systems that the radioactive water now stored at the Pilgrim is coming from, whether the state will be given samples of the water or simply supplied with data from Holtec’s sampling, and other details related to the more than one million gallons of radioactive water at the plant.

    During the recent Congressional hearing, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey secured a pledge from Holtec’s president to allow for independent testing of the water prior to any discharge into Cape Cod Bay.

    PILGRIM REACTOR

    Congressional Hearing to Look at Decommissioning

    The public is not invited to speak, but advocates plan rallies in Plymouth

    By

    PLYMOUTH — A handful of state and federal officials, an attorney from a national advocacy group, and the president of Holtec International, the company that owns the shuttered Pilgrim nuclear plant, are on the short list to testify during a Congressional field hearing on the decommissioning of nuclear reactors on Friday, May 6 at Plymouth Town Hall.

    Because the potential release of a million gallons of radioactive water from the Pilgrim plant is foremost on the minds of residents near the plant and on Cape Cod, that topic is sure to be raised.

    The Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clear Air Climate and Nuclear Safety, chaired by Sen. Edward Markey, will convene the hearing at 10 a.m. Only those who have registered ahead may attend. The session will focus on the decommissioning process, nuclear safety and security issues, and state, local, and community stakeholder engagement.

    A spokesperson for Markey confirmed that the senator and some witnesses are likely to comment on Holtec’s plan to release the water into Cape Cod Bay, “particularly focusing on the lack of community input.”

    “The hearing will cover the economic, health, and environmental impacts of the decommissioning process on communities like Plymouth and others around Cape Cod Bay,” the spokesperson said in an email.

    This is the only U.S. Senate field hearing planned on nuclear decommissioning issues.

    Testimony at the hearing is by invitation only. The list includes Kris Singh, CEO of Holtec International, which is decommissioning Pilgrim and four other reactors; John Lubinski, director of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards; Assistant Attorney General Seth Schofield, who helped negotiate a settlement between the state and Holtec; Geoffrey Fettus, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council; and state Sen. Susan Moran of Falmouth.

    State Rep. Sarah Peake of Provincetown said neither she nor Sen. Julian Cyr could attend the hearing because of other commitments, but they had worked with legislators on a joint letter that Moran will read that will include their comments.

    Both she and Cyr “are actively involved in the planning, strategy, and drafting of our testimony,” Peake said in an email.

    Citizens groups from Cape Cod and the Plymouth area will rally at 9 a.m. on Friday outside Plymouth Town Hall before the hearing, at which there will be no public comments. Comments may be submitted in writing to [email protected].

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to hold a public forum on May 9 to present its proposed revisions to the federal decommissioning regulations. But the question of how to release contaminated water is apparently not on the agenda.

    “The staff will not be covering radioactive water disposal plans for Pilgrim during its presentation and are not the staffers involved with that matter,” NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said in an email.

    At the May 9 forum, the public will be able to ask questions and comment, but the primary purpose of the event is to outline the changes so that people can submit comments in writing, according to Sheehan.

    A demonstration is planned for 5 p.m. on May 9 at the 1620 Plymouth Harbor hotel. State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz will be among the speakers.

    RADIOACTIVITY

    Worker Lockout Is New Worry at Nuclear Plant

    NRC says radioactive releases from Pilgrim have always been at safe levels

    By

    PLYMOUTH — There is more to worry about than the possible discharge of a million gallons of radioactive water from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station into Cape Cod Bay. That was the message at Monday’s meeting here of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP).

    The panel of citizens, local officials, and representatives from a handful of state agencies was told by officials of Laborers’ Union Local 721 that 60 skilled workers have been “locked out” by plant owner Holtec International.

    The union workers, the officials said, have been involved in Pilgrim’s maintenance for several decades and more recently in the decommissioning of the plant. “We built that plant; we maintained that plant; we took pride in going in there,” said Scott Gustafson, the union’s regional organizer and a Plymouth resident.

    The lockout is related to some remarks made by a national union member to a top Holtec official, Gustafson said.

    Holtec is reportedly now replacing the unionized laborers with untrained workers who don’t know the jobs or the related safety standards, according to Andrew Marshall, the union’s business manager. “These people are inexperienced,” said Marshall. “This isn’t about unions. This is about safety for the public and the people working there.”

    Marshall said the lockout isn’t about money. He said replacement workers were being paid 25 cents per hour more than the union’s workers make. He added that Holtec was having difficulty finding replacements who could successfully pass the required tests.

    The news of the lockout left the advisory panel and members of the public dismayed. “From what these guys are saying,” said Plymouth resident Joanne Corrigan, “they’ve got Homer Simpson running the plant.”

    David Noyes, Holtec’s senior compliance manager at Pilgrim, assured the panel there was no cause for alarm. “People on this committee can sleep at night,” he said.

    Noyes blamed the lockout on the laborers’ union, saying its members had refused to sign a contract.

    But Marshall said the laborers did sign a contract in 2019 and that it doesn’t expire until September 2022.

    The trouble is, responded Noyes, the union’s contract is with a company called Comprehensive Decommissioning International (CDI) and Holtec is no longer using that company as its decommissioning contractor.

    CDI was a joint venture formed by Holtec and SNC-Lavalin, a Canadian company with experience in decommissioning. That venture fell apart in January because of a dispute, Holtec spokesman Patrick O’Brien said at the time.

    Holtec Decommissioning International then took over from CDI. O’Brien had said CDI workers were simply transferred to Holtec Decommissioning. But that did not happen for the workers in Laborers’ Union Local 721.

    Following Monday’s meeting, Mary Lampert, an NDCAP member and longtime Pilgrim watchdog, said she saw the lockout as a safety concern. She said she worried about the loss of trained workers and that other employees might hesitate to disclose problems at the plant for fear of being locked out.

    NRC Says Nothing to Fear

    At the same March 28 meeting where the union workers lockout was discussed, a top regional official of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission delivered his own message: the public has nothing to fear from the release of one million gallons of radioactive water from the closed Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station into Cape Cod Bay.

    Plenty of people attending the meeting vehemently disagreed, asking the NRC if it had considered how the currents would cause the irradiated water to stall in Cape Cod Bay and whether the agency looked at potential economic effects on regional industries like shellfishing and tourism, in addition to adverse health effects.

    The radioactive water comes from the plant’s spent fuel pool, reactor cavity, and other systems. It would be released in small batches into the bay.

    Holtec has two other options for getting rid of the contaminated water. Evaporation, the company has said, would require a considerable amount of heat and possibly the use of diesel generators. Trucking the waste offsite is a second alternative. But releasing the water into the bay appears to be the company’s favored strategy.

    Anthony Dimitriadis, the NRC’s branch chief for the region, offered a slide presentation during Monday’s meeting to show how radioactive releases, which were ongoing while the plant operated, were always well below the allowed annual limits for the exposure to the human body. One hundred millirems is the limit set by his organization, while 25 millirems is the limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

    The branch chief discussed monitoring and noted that sampling of sediment, shellfish, and finfish at the end of the plant’s discharge canal had not shown evidence of contamination. Testing does not appear to have taken place along the shoreline of Cape Cod Bay, however, where an expert from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has said currents would carry the radioactive water from Pilgrim.

    NDCAP member Mary Lampert cited several laws that protect the bay as an ocean sanctuary. “They would not be allowed to dump if the state enforces the laws on the books,” she said. She added that the Supreme Court had said the state would have authority to prohibit the dumping if it were determined to have an economic impact. Fishing and shellfishing are major industries in the region.

    Lampert also brought up the NRC standard for radiation dosage known as ALARA, which stands for “as low as reasonably achievable.”

    “Obviously, dumping will not accomplish this,” Lampert said. Holtec can meet the ALARA standard by trucking the water offsite to a disposal facility, she said.

    Dimitriadis talked about tritium, a radionuclide that binds with water and can’t be filtered out, characterizing it as “the least hazardous isotope.” Lampert disagreed, saying it can cause health effects.

    Pine duBois, NDCAP’s co-chair, said she was concerned about marine life. “We’re so much bigger than what lives in the bay,” duBois said. “At what level would it be dangerous to organisms in the bay?”

    Dimitriadis said the main focus has been on human health. “How does tritium affect shellfish? I don’t know,” he said.

    Local businessman Paul Quintal, who serves on the Plymouth Harbor Commission and runs a fishing boat, said the town has spent $20 million dredging the harbor and $4 million on a wharf that is designed to catch fuel spills. The town has a 135-page harbor management plan, he said, to protect its natural resources. “Would you want to eat a fish that had even a hint of contamination?” he asked Dimitriadis.

    James Lampert, Mary’s husband and an attorney, asked whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers economic effects, effects on endangered species, and the effect of cumulative radiation. He also asked whether the NRC looks at site-specific issues such as water circulation patterns.

    “Do you look at where the discharge is likely to stay?” Lampert asked. “My fear is that you do not look at any of those.”

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