An appeals officer for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is recommending that the state uphold its decision to deny Holtec Decommissioning International’s request to dump more than 800,000 gallons of treated radioactive water from the former Pilgrim nuclear power station into Cape Cod Bay.
Holtec is decommissioning the Pilgrim plant in Manomet, which stopped generating electricity in 2019. As part of its plan, the New Jersey-based company asked the DEP for a modification of its permit that would allow it to dump the wastewater.
The department denied Holtec’s request in July 2024. The company appealed, and on Thursday Salvatore Giorlandino, chief presiding officer of the DEP’s Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution, recommended that Commissioner Bonnie Heiple deny the appeal. The final decision is up to Heiple.
Holtec declined to comment on the recommendation until it hears from Heipel. It is not clear how long she will take to rendera decision.
Critics of Holtec – which stands to make many millions of dollars from decommissioning the plant – have long condemned its plans to dump water into Cape Cod Bay. The area is protected under the Massachusetts Ocean Sanctuaries Act, which prohibits the discharge of industrial wastes into protected state waters.
Meanwhile, Holtec continues to evaporate treated radioactive wastewater.
Days after the DEP rejected Holtec’s request to release the water in July 2024, the state said the company does not need a permit to evaporate the radioactive water. In a letter, the DEP told Holtec that the state only controls non-radioactive waste, and that a permit for those emissions is not required because the amount released annually is low. Radioactive emissions are controlled by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the state said, and the plant’s emissions are well below the standards set by the NRC.
The plant, which began operation in 1972, shut down in 2019 after a long decline in demand for nuclear-generated electricity.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.