A Massachusetts state legislator is pushing to get a proposed study on the possible effects of discharging a shuttered nuclear power plant’s irradiated wastewater into an economic development bill under consideration in Boston, a spokesperson said recently.
State Sen. Susan Moran (D), who represents Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station’s host community in Boston, has proposed establishing “a special commission to study the economic and environmental impacts of the discharge of spent fuel pool water and other materials created as a waste product of nuclear energy into the Commonwealth’s waterways,” a spokesperson told RadWaste Monitor in an email Oct. 6.
Leadership in Boston “has signaled that they are looking to include the language as part of an upcoming supplemental budget for the state,” the spokesperson said in the email.
Moran’s proposed commission was included as an amendment to a sweeping economic development package passed by the state Senate in July. The measure is currently in a conference committee, where it is being reconciled with the state House-side version of the bill.
The spokesperson said that the state senator was hopeful that a final version of the bill would include a Pilgrim wastewater commission. Moran is “is working with Senate leaders” to have the measure passed before Jan. 1, the spokesperson said.
Holtec International, the company which currently owns the Plymouth, Mass., Pilgrim plant, is considering discharging the facility’s wastewater into the nearby Cape Cod Bay as it decommissions the site. Moran has been a vocal opponent of the plan.
If made law, the state senator’s proposed review commission would be required to submit a report on its findings by Nov. 2024. Holtec would be prohibited from discharging any wastewater until 90 days after the survey is completed.
Meanwhile, Holtec senior compliance officer Dave Noyes said at a meeting of Pilgrim’s nuclear decommissioning citizens advisory panel Sep. 26 that the company was considering releasing the plant’s wastewater into the Cape Cod Bay as early as “mid-first quarter” in 2023. The timing for the first release could change depending on water testing the company has agreed to do alongside the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Although it has said that it would explore other options for disposing of Pilgrim’s wastewater, the Camden, N.J.-based decommissioning company has said that discharges were among the likely disposition pathways. Holtec in January defended the practice, arguing that wastewater releases are normal for decommissioning nuclear power plants.
Holtec acquired the Pilgrim plant from former operator Entergy Corp. in 2018. The company has said that it could finish decommissioning the site by 2027 or so.
