Decade
of Resistance 
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Dedicated to Breaking
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Shundahai is a Newe (Western Shoshone) word meaning "Peace and Harmony with all Creation"
April 2, 2006
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Pilgrim’s Progress
For the most part, those in attendance last Wednesday night didn’t like what they heard, but the evening proceeded without incident as the Town of Plymouth provided about a dozen police officers just in case. A similar meeting regarding the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Brattleboro, Vermont, got out of hand, and police were needed, according to NRC representative Chip Cameron. Entergy owns Vermont Yankee as well. Plymouth police were not needed, though some in the crowd simmered at the explanations they were receiving from NRC representatives Several members of the Duxbury Nuclear Advisory Committee were present to speak out against relicensing the aging plant and members of other organizations, including Plymouth’s Nuclear Matters Committee, made their cases against the relicensing, especially as it related to the NRC’s role in the evacuation plan for the towns surrounding the plant. Several members of the Duxbury Nuclear Advisory Committee were present to speak out against relicensing the aging plant and members of other organizations, including Plymouth’s Nuclear Matters Committee, made their cases against the relicensing, especially as it related to the NRC’s role in the evacuation plan for the towns surrounding the plant. Jeff Berger, chairman of the NMC, spoke out against the relicensing as "a Plymouth resident and not as chairman of any town committees or boards." Berger spoke specifically about the NRC’s refusal to consider evacuation and security as part of the relicensing process. "(Y)et it is those very things and others that are of the greatest concern to the public," said Berger. Johnny Eads, the senior project manager of safety, defended the NRC’s review process, stating that the NRC reviews only what the rules allow and "evacuation and security are very important to the NRC, but they are not a part of this process." The NRC’s team, headed up by senior project manager Kathy Weaver, went through the process of relicensing step-by-step, with the help of a flow chart that had people in the audience muffling their laughter at the many steps and multi-colored arrows crammed onto the chart. Weaver said the review of Pilgrim will take approximately 30 months and will have two main parts. The first will be a safety review, which will evaluate the condition of the plant’s non-moving parts, which are not normally replaced. The second part is an environmental review focusing on the impact the plant has had and will have on the environment surrounding the plant. NRC representative Chip Cameron said there were many points in the relicensing process for public participation and comment and pointed to the flow chart where white "splash marks" designated a public information session. Exit meetings will be held after the onsite inspection of Pilgrim and the safety evaluation. Another public hearing will be held after the environmental review to define to scope of the review. After those three public hearings, reports will be submitted to the five-member commission. Cameron said there are five reports the NRC will look at before it makes a decision whether to relicense Pilgrim: a safety evaluation report, two generic environmental impact statements, an inspection report on the onsite inspection, and lastly, the advisory committee on reactor safeguards will create a report on the safety of operating Pilgrim for another 20 years. Mary Lampert, a Duxbury resident and member of Pilgrim Watch, called the relicensing process "flawed." She said there was a way to petition the NRC to change its rules to look at evacuation and security as part of the processes. She cited group in Westchester County, New York took that step a year ago in response to the relicensing of Indian Point power plant, another nuclear plant owned by Entergy. That group’s petition is being reviewed and is still a year away from being completed by the NRC. She cited group in Westchester County, New York took that step a year ago in response to the relicensing of Indian Point power plant, another nuclear plant owned by Entergy. That group’s petition is being reviewed and is still a year away from being completed by the NRC. Evacuation has become a nation-wide concern after the evacuation debacles of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Trish Milligan, an emergency planner at the NRC, said that evacuation is a "current day concern...that doesn’t happen to be related to license renewal." She said the NRC had an "active role" in the communities affected by the two hurricanes but that the fault of the failed evacuations laid solely on the local emergency planners. She said that the NRC "is constantly planning and testing evacuation plans and emergency plans." Many in the audience scoffed at her statements and Cameron had to ask for order several times. Other issues besides evacuation and security were discussed. Kristine Keese, a Plymouth resident, said, "We live in an era of unexpected consequences." She asked the group if there was a study on major weather changes and cited the severe hurricanes the country has experienced in recent years. Bob Schaaf, the senior project manager of the environment, said there had never been such a study. Kathleen Leslie, a doctor at Jordan Hospital, asked if the NRC had ever declined a relicense request. Cameron cited a Pennsylvania plant that had issued an application that was "unacceptable" by the NRC and was "rejected if you will, and will resubmit an application in two years." He said that the NRC does not "rubberstamp" relicensing applications. Thirty-nine nuclear plants have submitted relicensing applications to the NRC, and have been issued license extensions for 20 years. Another 12 plants are currently under review. By 2012, the 103 civilian operated nuclear plants in the U.S. will have either filed for an application for extension, or will have shut down. cmeserve@cnc.com
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