Protesters Want Nuclear Plant Closed Immediately

Nine days after the owners of the last remaining nuclear power plant in Massachusetts announced they'll close it no later than June 2019 because of deteriorating economics, protesters gathered at the Massachusetts State House Thursday in Boston to declare: That's not soon enough.

"Pilgrim needs to be closed right now, and not in 2019," said Diane Turco of Cape Downwinders.

With a plant still full of radioactive waste and safety lapses, Mary Lampert of Pilgrim Watch said, "We are at risk for monumental diaster."

Pilgrim's owner, Entergy Wholesale Commodities, said: "We appreciate those who support the plant and respect the right of plant opponents to make their opinions known. Our focus is on operating the plant safely and reliably up to our planned shutdown, expected no later than June 1, 2019, and then continuing with all safety protocols through ultimate decommissioning."

The company has said it could decide to shut down as soon as the next planned refueling outage in the spring of 2017, depending on energy markets in the region. They say they are losing up to $15 million a year because of the cheap price of natural gas used to produce electricity at competing power plants across the region.

Robert Rio, senior vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the state's biggest business group, said calls for an immediate shutdown of Pilgrim are unrealistic and could have damaging business impacts throughout the state.

"You just can't shut down a plant like that and expect it to have no impact on the economy or on the power supply of Massachusetts," Rio said in an interview Thursday afternoon.

Moreover, Rio said, rushing to close Pilgrim would make a big problem far worse for meeting the state's climate-change goals, which commit Massachusetts to reducing carbon-dioxide emissions in 2050 by 80 percent from 1990 levels. Pilgrim alone accounts for 84 percent of all non-carbon-emitting electricity used in the state – which would have to be made up for with more wind, hydroelectric or solar energy.

"It produces a significant amount of no-carbon power at very, very low cost," Rio said, "so we are very concerned overall about the loss of a station like Pilgrim."

Cape and Islands state senator Dan Wolf told the rally he does want Pilgrim closed as soon as possible and thinks citizen pressure can persuade Entergy to shut it down in 2017. But Wolf also urged plant foes to keep the pressure on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other regulators.

"Now is the time – now is the time - to make sure that the government is really doing its oversight and enforcement," Wolf said, "going forward."


With videographer Darrell Smith

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