COURTESY PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION
PLYMOUTH – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved changes to emergency planning requirements for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
The changes reflect the Plymouth plant’s decommissioning status and come in the form of exemptions from NRC requirements due to ceased operations.
Entergy, the plant’s former owner, requested the change prior to the NRC’s approval of a license transfer for the plant to Holtec International in August.
Under the terms of the license transfer, the pending request by Entergy was transferred to Holtec.
NRC Spokesman Neil Sheehan said the risk profile of a plant changes after it permanently ceases operations.
The plant owner requested revisions to its emergency preparedness plan after it shut down at the end of May.
The changes come in the form of exemptions from NRC requirements that are no longer appropriate for the plant now that the reactor has been shut down.
The NRC says the exemptions are consistent with actions taken for previous plants in the decommissioning process.
State and local governments may rely on comprehensive emergency management, or all hazard, planning for off-site emergency responses to potential events at Pilgrim instead of having a dedicated off-site radiological emergency response plan.
As a result, there will not be a need for a 10-mile emergency planning zone identified in the license for the plant.
The plant will continue to maintain an onsite emergency plan and response capabilities, including the continued notification of state officials in the event of an emergency declaration.
“That’s reflective of the fact that the risk of an accident at the plant is greatly reduced now that the reactor is no longer in operation,” Sheehan said.
The request from Entergy to the NRC included analyses to show that the exemptions are warranted.
“They have to provide us with an analysis that demonstrates the reduced risk after the plant has shut down,” Sheehan said. “In particular, the risk of a zirconium fire involving the spent fuel pool.”
The NRC also interacted with and received comments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the evaluation and conducted a thorough assessment to see if the proposed changes made sense.
“We have now completed that work and at this point they can begin revising that plan,” Sheehan said.
Changes to a plant’s emergency planning requirements are typical for a plant that is no longer in operation.
Sheehan said that while a plant’s reactor is in operation there needs to be fairly quick actions to deal with possible emergencies.
Once the plant is permanently shut down, the focus shifts to the spent fuel pool.
“The operators, if there were ever to be a problem that developed involving the pool, would have ample time to respond to that and address it before it became an issue,” Sheehan said.
The exemptions, a safety evaluation and associated license amendments reflecting the changes will be issued in the next few weeks.
Holtec may not implement the changes to its emergency preparedness plans until April 1.
The NRC said all spent fuel at the plant has been permanently moved from the reactor vessel into the spent fuel pool for storage.
Holtec purchased the plant in August to complete an expedited decommissioning in less than 10 years. The purchase and sale agreement was finalized a few days after the NRC approved the license transfer for the plant from Entergy.
The Cape and Islands legislative delegation, Governor Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey and other top state officials have expressed concerns over the NRC’s decision to approve a license transfer for the plant without gathering public input.
Healey has filed a lawsuit against the NRC for its failure to act on a February 2019 petition which requested an adjudicatory hearing before the federal agency to address the state’s concerns with the health, safety, environmental, and financial risks raised by Holtec’s proposal.
A bill was filed last month by local legislators to strengthen the Nuclear Decommissioning Advisory Panel for the plant.
Plymouth and Barnstable State Senator Vinny deMacedo (R-Plymouth) filed the bill, which was co-sposonored by Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr (D-Truro).
The bill would eliminate two spots on the panel that are reserved for the plant owner representatives. It would also add two spots for residents of Barnstable County.
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