January 22, 2025 www.saveourbayma.com


Diane Turco, Cape Downwinders

tturco@comcast.net

508.776.3132


Henrietta Cosentino, Save Our Bay MA

henrietta.cosentino@gmail.com

323.868.3296


Mary Lampert, Pilgrim Watch

mary.lampert@comcast.net

781.934.0389


Christine Silva, Realtor, Plymouth resident

christine.silva@raveis.com

508.922.7080


Art Desloges, Sierra Club

art.desloges@gmail.com

954.232.8561

Potential for fire at the Holtec-Pilgrim nuclear waste dump

[Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation-ISFSI]:


"The offsite impacts of such a fire could be broadly comparable to the offsite impacts from an accident that occurred at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear site in Japan in 2011."*


HOW DOES HOLTEC PLAN TO MITIGATE LEAKS, CONTAINMENT BREACH, or ASSAULT at the Holtec ISFSI on Cape Cod Bay, MA?

International Expert to Speak on Pilgrim’s Spent Fuel Storage

Dr. Gordon Thompson is the executive director of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies (IRSS), a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation based in Massachusetts since it was founded in 1984. IRSS conducts technical and policy analysis and public education, with the objective of promoting peace and international security, efficient use of natural resources, and protection of the environment.

 

Since 2002, Dr. Thompson has been a senior research scientist at the George Perkins Marsh Institute, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts.

 

His presentation will be valuable for the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel, elected officials, press, and the public. Plymouth has 4,114 fuel assemblies stored in 61 dry casks stored out in the open. Each cask is made of ½ inch thick stainless steel with a concrete overpack. The casks are located 362 feet from and are visible from a public road, Rocky Hill Road. The casks are subject to corrosion, exacerbated by salt air and to acts of malice. There is no offsite repository to store the spent fuel offsite; the fuel may remain in Plymouth indefinitely.

 

Dr. Thompson is an expert in risk management related to nuclear facilities, including facilities of the types deployed at Pilgrim Station. Aspects of risk management that he has addressed include safety, security, environmental impacts, facility design, and emergency planning. He has been acknowledged as a qualified expert witness in proceedings before the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the US Department of Energy (DOE), and other US bodies, and also in proceedings in Europe and Canada.

 

Dr. Thompson received his undergraduate education in science and mechanical engineering from the University of New South Wales in Australia in 1966. Subsequently, he pursued graduate studies at Oxford University and received from that institution a Doctor of Philosophy in applied mathematics in 1973, for analyses of plasmas undergoing thermonuclear fusion.

 

Since 1977, a significant part of Dr. Thompson’s work has consisted of technical and policy analyses related to nuclear facilities, often from the perspective of risk management. Drawing upon these analyses, he has provided expert testimony in legal and regulatory proceedings and has served on committees advising US and UK government agencies. In a number of instances, his work has been accepted or adopted by governmental bodies such as those in Germany, Ireland, UK, Canada, and the US.

 

In 2006, Dr. Thompson authored an expert report for the Massachusetts Attorney General discussing the risk of an SNF fire at the Pilgrim-Station nuclear reactor. In 2011, an accident occurred at the Fukushima-Daiichi site in Japan, involving four nuclear reactors of the same design as the Pilgrim-Station reactor. Subsequently, in 2011, he authored a second expert report for the Massachusetts Attorney General, discussing lessons from the Fukushima-Daiichi accident regarding risks at Pilgrim Station.-Mary Lampert, Pilgrim Watch

Pilgrim Watch Decommissioning Handbook

*Expert disclosure of Dr. Gordon Thompson

NOTE: The 64 cans used at Pilgrim are substandard Holtec Hi-Storm 100 thin-walled canisters.

Below from San Onofre Safety:


Donna Gilmore is the founder of San Onofre Safety, an organization that provides factual government and scientific information on the serious safety issues found at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in Southern California. Since the closure of the nuclear reactors, the focus of the organization has turned from operational safety issues to issues of nuclear spent fuel storage at San Onofre and other California and U.S. locations.  The San Onofre Safety website (sanonofresafety.org) is used around the world by journalists, engineers, elected officials, regulators and the general public for creditable sourced information on nuclear safety issues.  


All Holtec nuclear waste thin-walled canisters likely damaged from inferior Holtec downloading system


All Holtec thin-wall stainless steel canisters (only 1/2″ to 5/8″ thick) are likely damaged from Holtec’s inferior canister downloading system. The downloading system lacks precision, resulting in metal to metal scraping and gouging of canister walls. This significantly shortens the lifespan of Holtec thin-wall canisters. There are hundreds of these Holtec canisters installed around the U.S. 

In spite of this, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) continues to approve Holtec thin-wall canisters. The canisters are not designed to be inspected or repaired (inside or out), so the full extent of the gouging of the walls is unknown. Once cracks start in these canisters, they can grow through the wall in about 16 years, according to the NRC. Cracks grow faster in hotter canisters. In spite of knowing this, the NRC continues to approve hotter fuel in these canisters. [This happened at Pilgrim. Hot fuel meant to cool in the pool for at least 5-7 years was given an NRC exemption at the request of Holtec and loaded after 2 years.]

Read more here>>>


*Switzerland and other countries store thick-wall casks in hardened passively cooled building for additional environmental and security protection. 

*The Swiss also have a dry transfer system (hot cell) facility, so they can transfer fuel from one cask to another, inspect inside casks and maintain casks and contents.

*The U.S. has no large hot cells designed to do this. There is no U.S. plan in place to prevent or stop major radioactive releases from the canisters.


Listen to Holtec CEO Kris Singh acknowledge Holtec can leaks cannot be repaired:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euaFZt0YPi4


More well researched information at sanonofresafety.org

The Bomb Next Door


Thomas Bass writes on the Holtec legacy of turning dangerous nuclear waste into a profitable business at the expense of local communities, specifically Plymouth. [June 2022]


Eighty years into the atomic age, U.S. nuclear power reactors have produced several million tons of radioactive waste—and we still have no idea how to dispose of it.

Read full article here>>>

Holtec deploys smoke and mirrors that keep our communities at risk.

When Holtec came to Plymouth in 2019, one of their NDCAP presentation slides addressed the real concerns of residents; What will happen to the high-level nuclear waste stored on-site, the most dangerous substance on the planet meant to be isolated from the environment for tens of thousands of years? [See question #3 on chart below]

Holtec assured folks with the statement, "If everything goes according to the schedule, the earliest the facility would be completed would be 2024 and accepting shipments after that."

That wasn't going to happen. Holtec's plans to build an illegal Centralized Interim Storage Facility in New Mexico was defeated in the courts. However, Holtec continues to reject the state, tribal, business, and community efforts to halt Holtec in NM by pursuing this case to the Supreme Court.

Read more here>>>

HOLTEC AND THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION PLAN TO

STORE THE HIGH LEVEL NUCLEAR WASTE [BELOW]

"But we would not discharge it [Pilgrim wastewater]

until we have consent from our stakeholders."

-Holtec CEO Kris Singh, May 2022

Pilgrim nuclear station won't dump radioactive water without state consent Holtec CEO says-WCAI


"Evaporation releases higher levels of radioactive materials

due to the concentration and lack of dilution when the water becomes a gas."

-Holtec representative Joseph Delmar


Now Holtec says it's ok to evaporate radioactive wastewater into our communities and bay.

NO WAY!

BOTTOM LINE: It is ILLEGAL to discharge radioactive materials in Massachusetts!*

Petition Governor Healey to Halt Holtec

SIGN HERE AND SHARE

IN THE NEWS


Radioactive water continues to be a flashpoint in cleanup of Pilgrim nuclear site - WBUR

Read more here>>>

Sierra Club-Why nuclear does not impact climate change

Stanford Study reveals increase in nuclear waste from SMRs

*Pilgrim Watch state legal authority to stop evaporation discharge

EPA letter to Holtec

AGO/Holtec Settlement Agreement

Dr. Ian Fairlie on Tritium

Plymouth Board of Health

Holtec CEO Singh letter to Senator Markey

The Bomb Next Door by Dr. Thomas Bass/The American Scholar

Boston Globe-In the shadow of the Pilgrim nuclear plant, EPA warning reverberates

Provincetown Independent-Legislation to stop radioactive water release fails

Provincetown Independent-Shape of Bay means poisons would linger

APCC Legal letter to the state

Save Our Bay MA

Cape Downwinders

Pilgrim Watch

Herring Pond Wampanoag

Sierra Club of Massachusetts

MA Lobstermen's Association

United American Indians of New England

Realtor Association of Southeastern Massachusetts

Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility

UUMASS Action

Indivisible Outer Cape

Six Pond Association, Plymouth

League of Women Voters/Plymouth Area

League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area

Environment Massachusetts

Community Action Works

Clean Water Action

Sustainable Plymouth

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