Groups Protest Recommendation to Approve Relicensing of Pilgrim Nuclear Reactor May 8th

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A state-wide coalition of 14 different groups wants Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to ask the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to reject the NRC staff’s April 23rd request to approve relicensing of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth. The NRC staff recommended that NRC Commissioners approve the relicensing at their next meeting May 8, despite several outstanding challenges to the licensing process.

The groups say licensing the reactor for another 20 years as requested by Entergy, the facility’s owner, would be illegal and blatantly disregards Massachusetts citizens’ concerns about the aging reactor’s impact on their health, property values, natural resources, Cape Cod Bay, and public safety. They also say the recommendation flies in the face of the relicensing process.

“This is simply an outrage,” said Mary Lampert of Pilgrim Watch. “The NRC is doing Entergy’s bidding and trying to trample our rights to have our concerns heard in a full and fair process.”

Pine duBois, Executive Director of the Jones River Watershed Association, pointed to the fact that the facility sits directly on Cape Cod Bay and cycles 510 million gallons of its water through its reactor every day said, “Enough is enough. The scale of destruction of Cape Cod Bay and its resources by Entergy’s operations over the past 40 years is incalculable and we have a right to be fairly heard.”

And James McCaffrey, Director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club, said “It’s time for Massachusetts to move beyond dangerous, polluting and unsafe energy technologies in all forms. The clock ran out a long time ago for Pilgrim, and it should not be reset for this aged and unsafe facility. This maneuver by the NRC to relicense Pilgrim prior to the resolution of outstanding appeals is an affront to the citizens of the Commonwealth, the environment, and public health.”

Organizations signing the letter to Governor Patrick are: Massachusetts Sierra Club, Clean Water Action Alliance, Toxics Action Center, Pilgrim Watch, Jones River Watershed Association, Eel River Watershed Association, Neponset River Watershed Association, Pilgrim MUST, Cape Downwinders, Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, Pilgrim Coalition, Freeze Pilgrim, Mashpee Environmental Coalition, and EcoLaw.

Resources

Letter to Gov. Patrick (PDF) (April 27, 2012 – Revised 4/30)
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Time-sensitive Response to NRC Staff Request for Pilgrim Relicensing by May 8, 2012

Pilgrim Watch & JRWA Joint Opposition to SECY-12-0062 (PDF) (April 30, 2012)
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SECY-12-0062 (PDF) (April 23, 2012)
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Supplemental Information Potentially Relevant and Material to Proceeding for the Renewal of Full-Power Operating License for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

Letter to NMFS (PDF) (April 12, 2012)
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Letter to NMFS (PDF) (April 13, 2012)
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Plymouth, MA – The international organization, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), and the local groups, Jones River Watershed Association (JRWA) and Pilgrim Watch, called for a thorough investigation of pollution impacts on North Atlantic right whales from Entergy’s Pilgrim nuclear reactor in Plymouth, following recent whale sightings about a half mile off shore of the station on Cape Cod Bay. On April 17, three North Atlantic right whales, among the most endangered large whales on earth, were spotted swimming in front of the Pilgrim reactor. Consistent sightings of right whales off Plymouth have been reported since late November.[1]

Read our letter to the NOAA Fisheries Service, available here: JRWA-letter-to-NMFS_0206_2012.pdf

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