COURTESY PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION
PLYMOUTH – A meeting was held Thursday night at Plymouth Town Hall regarding the ongoing situation between Holtec International’s acquisition of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) oversight of it.
Paul Blanch, who has over 40 years of experience in nuclear safety and regulation, gave a presentation to the Massachusetts Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP).
In a summary of the situation that he said came without bias, Blanch criticized Holtec’s incapability to inspect, monitor, or repair casks of toxic materials. Because of this, he explained, high levels of waste in the Plymouth area will be extremely difficult to remove going forward.
“We just don’t know who’s going to be responsible 20 years from now,” Blanch said.
“We’re kicking it on down to the next generation. I don’t like that, for a lot of reasons.”
Blanch noted that these casks contain hundreds of million of curies.
He went on to detail another contention of his that involved, what he perceived, as a reluctancy from the NRC to give oversight to the Pilgrim site and their indifference for the public’s concerns.
“I’ve dealt with a lot of media people, a lot of technical people, an awful lot of members of the public, and they don’t believe, quite, that the NRC is performing their mission of protecting the people and the environment,” Blanch continued.
The NDCAP claims that despite written commitments, Holtec declined sending a representative to the meeting.
The panel advised that the NRC is looking to schedule a visit from a representative next month.
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