Six workers decommissioning the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station were exposed to airborne radiation in August of 2020, according to a federal inspection report.
The contract workers were wearing air-fed protective suits, and plant employees failed to test the air for radiation.
Henrietta Cosentino, a member of the state’s Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel, said the incident highlights the dangers of radiation at Pilgrim.
“It seems to me that there was carelessness at many levels and … needless to say, it's disturbing,” she said. “I think it speaks to the larger issue, which is that the site is fraught with dangers for everybody.”
The report also shows other deficiencies, including radioactive material present in sediment on a building roof.
A new bill filed in the state Legislature would make significant changes to the public panel on the decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
The bill would shrink the panel from 21 to 15 members, give state officials a bigger role, and change the composition of the group. One change would add a member focused on future economic development of the Plymouth property.
Plymouth legislators are sponsoring the measure.
It would also change the name of the group, from Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel to Pilgrim Decommissioning State Oversight Panel, and reduce the frequency of meetings.
Some members of the group say the change would result in less influence from members of the public.
Holtec International will seek an amended permit to discharge radioactive wastewater from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station into Cape Cod Bay, Senior Compliance Manager David Noyes told members of the
Radioactive wastewater, if released into Cape Cod Bay, would initially spread in all directions and then turn south and southeast, flowing toward the Outer Cape, a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Holtec International is at the center of a controversy over plans to discharge water from the spent fuel pool at the Pilgrim nuclear plant in Massachusetts into Cape Cod Bay as part of the plant's decommissioning.