Nuclear waste to be dumped into Cape Cod and turn ocean radioactive
Story by Lauren Acton-Taylor For Dailymail.Com
The pristine waters off Cape Cod could become radioactive for as long as a month after a new study found that nuclear waste being dumped from the tony peninsula has a 'high probability' of lingering.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution conducted the study to find out how likely it would be that discharged wastewater from the Pilgrim Nuclear PowerStation in Plymouth, Massachusetts would spread into Cape Cod Bay, whose surrounding communities include multimillion-dollar mansions.
'Our numerical simulations suggest it is unlikely that the bulk of plume waters will leave the Bay in less than a month,' said the study's leader Irina Rypina.
The dumping comes as part of the power station's decommissioning, and the study found that its wastewaters could drift near the shores and coastal waters of Dennis, Wellfleet, and Provincetown.
'If the release were to happen in the spring and summer, a small portion of a plume might leave the bay in less than a month, passing north of Provincetown and then flowing southward along the outer Cape,' the study said.
'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' Rypina said.
In response to the study, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, who chairs the Senate's Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, said that the findings confirm concerns expressed by the residents of the Cape.
According to Markey, residents have been questioning the wisdom of dumping plant wastewater into the Bay 'for years.'
'Our numerical simulations suggest it is unlikely that the bulk of plume waters will leave the Bay in less than a month,' said the study's leader Irina Rypina
The dumping comes as part of the power station's decommissioning, and the study found that these wastewaters could drift near the shores and coastal waters of Dennis, Wellfleet, and Provincetown
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, who chairs the Senate's Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, said that the findings confirm concerns expressed by the residents of the Cape
Nuclear wastewater discharge is a normal occurrence during both the operation and decommissioning of power plants, according to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
'The controlled release of liquid effluents at nuclear power plants, within specified regulatory limits, is an activity that occurs throughout the operation and decommissioning of a facility,' said the NRC.
While the study did not explore the health risks that such a dump could pose to marine life or local fishing or recreation, a 2023 analysis by Florida-based Holtec International, the plant's owner, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health included alarming findings.
It determined that the roughly 900,000 gallons of wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with 'four gamma emitters (Maganese-54, Cobalt-60, Zinc-65 and Cesium-137) and Tritium (H-3 a beta radiation emitter).'
A spokesperson for Holtec told the Boston Herald that Pilgrim had 'safely' discharged millions of gallons of water over the decades with little environmental impact.
'Those discharges were done within the safe federal and state limits and reported to the NRC and publicly available on their website.
'This includes studies to determine any potential impact to sea life and the Bay which showed that safety has always remained, and plant impact has been negligible,' the spokesperson told the outlet.
The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station shut down in May 2019 after 47 years of operation and was then owned by Louisiana-based Entergy Corporation. The plant was purchased by a subsidiary of Holtec in 2019 with an aim toward cleaning up the 1,700-acre site for industrial and commercial development, according to the Herald.
When the plant was bought, Holtec President and CEO Kris Singh assured residents that the project would 'replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant's 47 years of operations.'
In a statement, Markey said that Singh had promised both the senator and impacted communities that the process of decommissioning would be 'open and transparent.'
'In the years since, Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment. In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input,' Markey said.
Local residents have continued to show concern for the wastewater dumping into Cape Cod Bay - identified as a' protected ocean sanctuary', according to the Massachusetts Government website.
The state Department of Environmental Protection determined on July 18 that Holtec was prohibited from 'the dumping or discharge of industrial wastes into protected state waters', the Cape Cod Times reported.
Holtec is reportedly hoping to discharge up to 1.1 million gallons of industrial wastewater and filed an appeal to the agency's prohibition on August 16.
In a statement, the company said: 'The appeal explains that the permits granting liquid discharge were issued prior to the Ocean Sanctuary Act legislation, which grandfathers these types of liquid discharges.'
