The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is hitting the road early next month and heading to Massachusetts where they’ll discuss nuclear plant decommissioning policies in the shadow of one such project, according to a press release from a subcommittee chair.
The Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee’s clean air, climate and nuclear safety subcommittee will hold a field hearing in Plymouth, Mass., May 6 that will include “nuclear safety and security issues and state, local, and community stakeholder engagement,” according to a Monday press release from subcommittee chair Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
The hearing will take place starting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time at the Plymouth Town Hall, the release said. More information, including livestream information and a witness list, is forthcoming.
Plymouth is home to Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, currently being decommissioned by Holtec International. New Jersey-based Holtec acquired the plant from Entergy in 2018 and has said that it could wrap the project by 2027 or so.
Pilgrim’s decommissioning has been the subject of some controversy lately, particularly with regard to Holtec’s proposal to release the site’s irradiated wastewater into the Cape Cod Bay. A bill working its way through the Bay State’s legislature aims to block such a discharge and Markey himself has urged Holtec to consider alternate disposal options. The company has defended the practice.
