Provincetown Town Meeting Votes to Call on Governor to Request Closure of Pilgrim Nuclear
Yarmouth Board Votes to Put Question on Town Ballot
 CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS - Provincetown town meeting members voted 197-2 on Wednesday April 3, 2013 to call on Governor Deval Patrick to request the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) close Entergy's Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (PNPS).
Cape Downwinders initiated a Cape-wide petition to give citizens a voice for public health and safety with thirteen Cape Cod towns having the public advisory question on a ballot or warrant. This week in Yarmouth, the board voted 4-1 to place the question on their ballot. Falmouth was scheduled to vote last night.
The public advisory question reveals the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and Entergy's radiological emergency plans to keep residents on the Cape in the event of a severe accident even if a radioactive plume is moving over the area. The Sagamore and Bourne bridges will be closed to facilitate Plymouth evacuation efforts, and the state would later determine hot spots and "relocate" residents.
PNPS is a GE Mark l Boiling Water Reactor with the same design as Fukushima Daiichi where safety systems failed after loss of offsite power causing 3 meltdowns. In Japan, the US government called for a 50 mile evacuation of American citizens for their protection. With a no-go zone around the destroyed reactors expanding out to 20 miles, over 160,000 people were removed from their home indefinitely. Recently, the NRC held an open house in Plymouth where an NRC official Tom Setzer agreed that 'Fukushima can happen here".
A year ago, Governor Patrick, Attorney General Coakley, Congressmen Keating and Markey, State Senate President Murray, Senator Wolf, and Representative Peake all requested that the NRC withhold relicensing of PNPS until lessons learned from Fukushima were addressed. The NRC ignored those pleas and relicensed PNPS for another 20 years. Entergy will continue to operate the reactor even though there are imminent dangers involving 3,400 spent fuel assemblies in a pool designed for 880, a poorly designed containment structure known to have a 90% chance of failure, and serious problems with the emergency plans.
Cape Downwinders spokesperson Diane Turco said, "What is being protected here-people or profits? Telling the public to stay put, take the radiation hit, and relocate later will not be tolerated. The people are calling for the NRC to uphold their mandate to shut a nuclear power reactor if the public safety cannot be assured. Provincetown has spoken and the rest of the Cape will follow."
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THE CASE FOR EXPEDITED TRANSFER OF SPENT FUEL TO DRY CASKS; WHO WILL PAY?
Pilgrim Watch Director Mary Lampert Travels to Maryland to Join Panel at NRC Annual Conference
 Pilgrim Coalition members are fighting the battle for safer nuclear facilities on many fronts. On March 13, Mary Lampert, Director of Pilgrim Watch, went to Rockville, Maryland, where she participated on a panel at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Annual Conference.
She joined two NRC panelists and Dr. Gordon Thompson to discuss expedited transfer of spent fuel to dry casks. Dr. Thompson made the case to thin the pools. Mary followed by underscoring the potential damage from a radioactive release from the spent fuel pool that would dwarf damage from any other source - including the reactor itself.
Mary then asked the question why high-density pool storage has not been banned as unacceptable in the U.S.? The simple answer is money. Industry has rejected paying to reduce spent fuel density out of operating costs.
Next she asked the question: Whether expedited transfer is more expensive? The short answer is that it shouldn't be. All spent fuel generated in the past and for the foreseeable future will eventually be transferred to dry casks located at reactor sites or centralized facilities. The only question is when.The total number of casks and size of the related facilities will be the same, whether or not transfer to dry casks is expedited or dragged out. Again, the only question is when the casks and pads be built. There is no reason to think they will be cheaper 10-30 years from now.
The last question Mary addressed was: Where is the money going to come from? She outlined three "possibilities" - but only one of which has any likelihood of succeeding. Option 1: Licensees voluntarily pay for expedited transfer out of operating income; the probability of that happening is zero. Many nuclear operators now are in the red unable to compete with cheaper sources of electricity. Option 2: Congress amends the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to allow monies to be spent on safer onsite storage. Again the probability of that happening is only slightly above zero because licensees are lobbying hard for an offsite storage solution. Option 3: NRC orders licensees to expedite transfer and allows them to use Decommissioning Trust Funds during operations to do so, as permitted under 10 CFR 50.82(A)(8)(i)(a)). The probability of this happening is greater than other options.
Gordon and Mary started the day with a private meeting with NRC Chairman Macfarlane to discuss their presentation.
How Clean Is Clean After A Nuclear Incident Involving Offsite Contamination?
Pilgrim Watch commented to oppose the National Commissions on Radiation Protection's draft standard that would replace EPA's guidelines for decontamination after a terrorist attack, nuclear power reactor accident or other nuclear incident with offsite consequences. The draft report on radiation remediation parts ways with standard U.S. practice that are usually designed so that no more than one in 10,000 people would be expected to develop cancer in a worst-case scenario involving long-term exposure to radioactive contaminants to guidelines under which as many as one in 23 people would be expected to develop cancer from long-term radiation exposure. Comments were extended to April 15th.
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Save Our Bay Flotilla - Spend an Afternoon Out on Beautiful Cape Cod Bay and Help Out a Good Cause!
Join Cape Cod Bay Watch and the Pilgrim Coalition for the Save Our Bay Flotilla, an on-the-water rally to celebrate World Oceans Day and shine a light on the environmental impacts caused by Entergy's Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on Cape Cod Bay. Help us raise awareness of the issues and the need for Entergy to clean up its act! The rally will take place from noon to 1 pm on June 9, 2013 outside the security buoys near Pilgrim. After the rally, join us for a picnic at Steven's Field in Plymouth from 2-4 pm. Please RSVP to info@capecodbaywatch.org.
For more details about the event, visit www.capecodbaywatch.org/flotilla.
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WOMR - Matters of Opinion with Ira Wood
Our Nuke and the News
Did you hear Ira Wood on the radio April 5? The Cape Cod radio personality shared interesting commentary on state, local and federal responses to citizens trying to protect the region from Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
Wood discussed a range of topics, from the Pilgrim 14 to recent comments from Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency officials and the April 2 workshop the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sponsored at the Plymouth Town Hall. Rather than address the group as a whole, commission officials addressed small groups, he noted.
"This is a format more commonly used in speed dating than public workshops," Wood said. "It was kind of obvious that the government wanted to say as little as possible and preferred that any information be delivered quietly."
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Marshfield Town Meeting To Vote on Forming Nuclear
Advisory Committee
Marshfield Town Meeting begins Monday, April 22 and will vote on whether to approve a citizens' petition to create a Nuclear Advisory Committee. Plymouth and Duxbury both have advisory committees. If approved, Marshfield will be the third local committee.
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About the Pilgrim Coalition. We are a non-partisan network of citizens and organizations dedicated to raising awareness of - and reducing - significant risks to public safety, health and our environment arising from the continued operation of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, located in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
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