State: No Pilgrim Wastewater To Enter Cape Cod Bay

Communities around Cape Cod Bay are praising a decision by state regulators last week to block Holtec International from dumping up to 1.1 million gallons of industrial wastewater into the bay from the former Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth. State officials determined that Cape Cod Bay is a protected ocean sanctuary where waste discharge is prohibited.

A year ago, MassDEP issued a tentative decision to reject Holtec’s water discharge permit based on the Oceans Sanctuaries Act. In the public comment period that followed, residents and groups sent state regulators thousands of comments, most opposing the dumping of radioactive water into the bay. Last week, MassDEP finalized its decision blocking the discharge plan. Holtec is expected to appeal.

The Pilgrim plant went offline in 2019 and has been in the decommissioning process since that time. Highly radioactive spent fuel assemblies containing uranium fuel pellets were removed from the spent fuel pool at the plant and placed into dry casks for storage on an on-site pad. At issue is the wastewater from the spent fuel pool, which Holtec intended to filter and then slowly discharge into the bay. Originally more than 1 million gallons, the spent fuel pool has lost more than 100,000 gallons to evaporation.

Opponents of the discharge plan, organized as Save Our Bay, held rallies outside public hearings and at Plymouth Harbor.

“With a strong community coalition fighting with Save Our Bay, including fishermen, real estate professionals, indigenous activists, environmentalists, families and every elected official at the local, state, and federal level, Holtec's plan to dump has been halted,” said Diane Turco of South Harwich, the director of the Pilgrim watchdog group Cape Downwinders. “We applaud Governor Healey and her administration for this great first step — upholding the law so Holtec cannot use our environment as collateral damage for its profit. However, the fight isn’t over, now we need to stop the forced evaporation of the radioactive water that has been occurring on the site,” Turco said.

A statement by the Association to Preserve Cape Cod praised MassDEP’s decision but warned that more work is needed.

“Stopping the use of Cape Cod Bay as a cheap dumping ground for Holtec’s waste is a validation that local voices and concerns matter,” the statement reads. “A well-resourced multinational corporation, Holtec is used to getting its way by claiming that federal rules disempower local and state authorities. Holtec's practice is to steamroll local discretion, and it took APCC to stand up and resist.”

The APCC and its donors hired a top legal team in the case, and while the state ruling is gratifying, “we are not done yet,” the statement reads. “Holtec is on record that they will appeal, so APCC cannot and will not stand down. APCC and our legal team will support the DEP ruling against whatever appeals Holtec files.”

Holtec has argued that the discharges were approved before Cape Cod Bay was designated a protected ocean sanctuary. A spokesman for the company said that the state’s ruling will delay the decommissioning of the plant and the redevelopment of the property in Plymouth, and that Holtec will continue to evaluate its options for disposing of the wastewater.