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Opponents of the proposed discharge of radioactive water from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station packed a meeting on the future of the station last night.
Ryan Collins of Bourne received a standing ovation from the audience when he presented a thick binder of signatures from his Change.org petition. The petition calls for a stop to the discharge plan. It garnered more than 200,000 signatures.
In his remarks to the state panel on Pilgrim, which includes representatives from Pilgrim owner Holtec, Collins asked Holtec CEO Krishna Singh to live up to the description of Holtec on its website as ”a learning organization, forever striving for a higher standard of excellence.”
“Right now is a wonderful opportunity for you to demonstrate this higher standard of excellence by acquiescing to our collective wishes as a community in agreeing to no longer consider dumping this water into our beloved Cape Cod Bay,” Collins said.
Holtec, the multimillion-dollar company received over $1 billion to clean up a decommissioned power plant in Plymouth, MA, and illegally dumping 1 million gallons of toxic water would save them money.
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.