Holtec cannot dump into our bay, so they are now dumping into our air with impunity! Holtec has placed heaters in the spent fuel pool and reactor cavity that release radionuclides into our communities without real treatment, filters, or real-time monitors.

That radioactive vapor, which includes tritium, condenses into our communities and environment. This is the same contaminated radioactive industrial wastewater that the state has already tentatively determined is illegal to dump into Cape Cod Bay.

Holtec is using another method to dispose of the wastewater.

EVAPORATION HAS TO STOP TODAY!

COME to the NDCAP meeting MONDAY JANUARY 29 and demand Holtec stop evaporating the wastewater now.

WHAT'S BLOWING IN THE WIND?

On January 9, Cape Downwinders sent a letter to MassDEP Commissioner Bonnie Heiple calling for the state to intervene and enforce state regulations and the AGO-Holtec Settlement Agreement to stop Holtec from disposing the industrial wastewater via evaporation AND to initiate an independent investigation into the August whistleblower letter regarding worker and public health safety allegations. We are waiting for the response and state action. [See full letter link below.]

That Settlement Agreement specifically states in Sec. III 16-“Nothing in this Agreement shall release any person from the obligation to remediate new, undiscovered, or undisclosed releases of radiological contamination or non-radiological oil or hazardous materials in accordance with federal or Massachusetts statues and regulations.”

Since the state has already determined through the NPDES application process that the industrial wastewater is a new source of water at the Holtec-Pilgrim decommissioning site, why wouldn't that also hold true for that same contaminated wastewater now under forced evaporation entering our airways?

In addition to enviromental evaporation impacts, the whistleblower letter received by CDW and the MassDPH in August cited worker and public health and safety issues from the untreated, unfiltered, and unmonitored wastewater effluent going out the vent. The letter also included concern for direct worker exposure on the floor. There still has been no independent investigation.

On September 25, MassDEP instructed Holtec to inform them of any changes, and if evaporation was to be their method of discharge. While both engineering change and evaporation have been implemented since March 2023, Holtec has yet to contact the MassDEP as directed.

Pilgrim Watch leaders Mary and Jim Lampert also sent a letter to Governor Healey citing Massachusetts regulations that would halt the evaporation. They explain, "It seems clear that these evaporative emissions will end up in Cape Cod Bay, and that they are prohibited by the Ocean Santuaries Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the DEP anit-degradation regulations." [See full PW letter link below.]

Can the Mass Department of Public Health step up?

Under M.G.L. ch.111 sec. 5N, "The department of public health shall establish rules and regulations of the commonwealth insofar as they pertain to the health aspects of ionizing and nonionizing radiation. Such rules and regulations shall apply exclusively throughout the commonwealth."

The law goes on, "The duly authorized inspectors of the department shall have the power to enter at all reasonable times upon any private or public property subject to its jurisdiction for the purpose of determining whether there is compliance with or violation of sections five N to five Q, inclusive, or any rule, regulation, license, registration or order adopted or issued thereunder."

Without direct state oversight as supported in the Settlement Agreement,

Holtec is getting free reign to contaminate our communities.

Read full CDW to DEP letter here>>>

Read full PW letter here>>>

Read Settlement Agreement here>>>

Read full whistleblower letter here>>>

Plymouth Board of Health Public Program January 4

Holtec evaporation of Pilgrim radioactive wastewater.

Dr. Brita Lundberg, past chair of the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, spoke to the Plymouth Board of Health and community.

"The decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Reactor power plant have long been known to pose multiple health risks to workers and to residents of nearby communities; radioactive isotopes and nuclear waste are prominent among these risks. Radioactive isotopes and nuclear waste are proven causes of human cancer. While high-dose exposures to these materials are the most highly carcinogenic, any exposure to radiation carries some risk of cancer; infants in the womb and young children are especially vulnerable to even low doses of radiation."

Read more here>>>

Watch Dr. Lundberg full presentation here>>>

Pilgrim in the NEWS

Duxbury Selectboard wants a monitor-Duxbury Clipper/Susanna Sheehan

The Duxbury Selectboard is urging the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to require air quality monitoring at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth because it’s possible that millions of gallons of radioactive water from the decommissioned nuclear plant may now be evaporated into the air instead of being dumped into the ocean.

Read more here>>>

Sources of Radiation Missing from Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station-WCAI radio/Jennette Barnes

Several pieces of equipment containing radioactive material have turned up missing at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.

Items such as explosives detectors were not in their expected locations at the time of a periodic inventory in the fall, according to Pilgrim owner Holtec International.

Read more here>>>

Group seeks to stop Holtec from evaporating Pilgrim's radioactive water into the air-Plymouth Independent/Fred Thys

A group concerned about the decommissioning of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant has asked the state to prevent Holtec, the company charged with securing the Manomet site, from releasing radioactive water vapor into the air.

Read more here>>>

Nearly 200,000 gallons of Pilgrim Nuclear Waste Vaporized-Provincetown Independent/Christine Legere

While the debate over the proposed discharge of 1.1 million gallons of radioactive wastewater from the Pilgrim nuclear plant into Cape Cod Bay goes on, Holtec Decommissioning International, the company that now owns the Plymouth reactor, has quietly evaporated nearly 200,000 gallons of it.

The contaminated steam is being released through unfiltered vents in the reactor building.

Read more here>>>

LETTER

C-10 and CAN-Halt evaporation

"Unmonitored radioactive releases-even if called "evaporation"-have consequences on the Bay, it's environs, the businesses dependent on the Bay, as well as those wnose purpose is recreational.".....

Read more here>>>

Legislation UPDATE

The MA legislature has until February 7 to vote bills on for further consideration this legislative session. Please contact the committee chairs and urge a favorable vote out of committee for a full floor vote this year.

Filed by Senator O'Connor, S.1448, an Act relative to monitoring dry casks of spent nuclear fuel would establish real-time monitors on each dry cask housed outside at the Holtec site. Holtec is now only responsible to inspect one can every 5 years and current environmental monitors are placed out in the community. The locations are far from the cans and too late to protect the public if a radiological release occured. Senator Cyr is chair of Public Health.

Full bill here>>>

Call the Joint Committee on Public Health

Filed by Senator Cyr for Cape Downwinders, S. 1498, an Act to improve public health and safety standards in communities around aging nuclear power plants and high-level nuclear waste dump sites would amend the current state emergency planning law to include nuclear waste dump sites such as the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) at Holtec-Pilgrim. Currently, the emergency plans are for All-Hazards events that, according to the Masssachusetts Emergency Management Agency, would not be effective for a radiological accident. Holtec is now only responsible to the fence of the ISFSI. Take a ride down Rocky Hill Road and see for yourself the lack of security and safety.

Full bill here>>>

Call the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security

FIGHT TO PROTECT COMMUNITIES EVERYWHERE! FROM OUR FRIENDS IN THE SOUTHWEST

Relatives, Friends and Colleagues, 

I am sad to announce that we are under attack at the Grand Canyon. On Monday, January 8, 2024, Energy Fuels (EF) started new uranium mining at the Pinyon Plain mine (formerly Canyon Mine) located inside the recently designated national monument. Energy Fuels has started extracting and stockpiling low-grade uranium ore, working toward high-grade ore. 

As a co-founder of Haul No! and organizer, we have been educating and spreading awareness about the mine since 2016, and we will continue working to inform and to inspire action. With the price of uranium being the highest it has been since 2007 and Biden's push to triple nuclear power by 2050, we know this may be the first in a possible new wave of uranium threats. 

The mine is about 4.5 miles from Red Butte, which is held sacred by local and regional Indigenous Peoples and identified as a Traditional Cultural Property. The Grand Canyon region is part of many Indigenous Nations' homelands and timeless worldviews, but is also a national and global treasure. 

Beyond support and beyond sign-on's, we are asking for others to help to take on this fight! As of Haul No!'s last monitoring report (Friday, Jan. 19, 2024), it appears they are actively working, but have not started transport to the White Mesa Mill in southeast Utah. 

Haul No! has the utmost respect for the leadership of the Havasupai in their fight against this mine (see attached) and we support collective efforts working toward the same goal: TO SHUT DOWN PINYON PLAIN MINE. Haul No! also supports the local fight against the White Mesa Mill by the Ute Mountain Ute. Our concerns regarding new uranium transport primarily through Diné, Hopi and Ute communities focus on the mine, but with the understanding that the mine is a symptom of the larger nuclear problem. 

LETTER to Governor Hobbs of Arizona

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HZ3uVUIOxgm8sKoC2VA6NCb88LUVY7TpR7JRsSA7Znw/edit?usp=sharing

You can support Haul No! by making a donation (https://haulno.com/donate/) and sharing any info from our website and social media. :)

https://haulno.com 

https://www.facebook.com/HaulNo

https://www.instagram.com/haul_no/

Thank you so much!

Leona Morgan

Haul No! Organizer

stopcanyonmine@gmail.com

+1 505 879 8547

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