Over the past four years, Entergy has worked toward relicensing its nuclear power plant on the shore of Manomet. And over the past four years, Plymouth officials, Manomet neighbors, and Massachusetts residents from as far away as Provincetown and the North Shore have debated the need, desire and requirements for the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission's potential approval of the energy giant's petition.

Until recently, for Plymouth officials, the main question was not safety, but taxes: as in how much money can officials get out of Entergy to host the reactor, as well as the nuclear waste for the next 20, or more, years. The current license expires in June 2012.

The PILOT program (payment in lieu of taxes) negotiated by lawyers for the town once paid the town $15 million a year. Fifteen years later, the payment is down to $7 million and selectmen acknowledge that next year The Pinehills will take the plant's place as payer of the most taxes in Plymouth.

But in the wake of the disasterous eathquake and tsunami in Japan March 11, and the aftermath at a plant a lot like Pilgrim close to a place near and dear to the hearts of many Plymouthians, safety has become the primary concern.

Duxbury's Pilgrim Watch and conservation groups like the Jones River Watershed Association in Kingston have expressed many concerns about Pilgrim's safety, from cracks in the cooling system, to the heat of the discharged water affecting smelt and herring numbers.  And in particular, after Sept. 11, 2001, the plant's security has been discussed and questioned.

Wednesday, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has asked the NRC to delay a decision on relicensing Pilgrim, according to the Boston Globe. State Senate President Therese Murray, a Plymouth resident, has also expressed concerns about safety.

Saturday, Pilgrim: MUST, an anagram for Make Us Safe Today, formed by Anna Baker of Marshfield and Daniel Ryan of Duxbury, will hold a rally in front of Plymouth Rock. The group originally wanted to hold it in front of the nuclear plant itself, but decided to do it on state-owned land instead.

The group will be joined by Pilgrim Watch's Mary Lampbert, representatives from the Sierra Club of Massachusetts, and state Rep. James Cantwell (D-Marshfield). The rally is being supported by environmental groups such as Clean Water Action in Boston and watchdog organizations focused on three regional nuclear plants. These include the Safe & Green Campaign, which seeks to close the Vermont Yankee facility and replace its power through conservation and renewable energy; and the C-10 Foundation, which monitors radiation releases from the Seabrook plant in New Hampshire.

Both Yankee Vermont and Seabrook are located close to the Massachusetts border.

The grass-roots group states on its Facebook page that it is not anti-nuclear energy, rather it is concerned with specific safety issues and offers specific solutions. 

The list includes:

• the storage of spent fuel rods on the site: “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should require that there be no more assemblies in a spent fuel pool than the original design allowed, and that all other spent fuel assemblies be placed in hardened, dispersed dry casks,’’ the group said in a prepared statement to the Globe. The pool at the Pilgrim plant was designed for 880 fuel rods. It now holds almost 3,000.
• Improved power reliability: "Loss of external power to Pilgrim could cause a nuclear disaster. There are several ways Pilgrim could lose power. There are 7 days of fuel for backup generators, and 4-8 hours of backup battery power. Our demand: All buried cables should be replaced with cables that are qualified for moist environments. Pilgrim must be required to have supplemental, portable generators stored nearby to bring to the site by truck or barge if needed."
• Expand emergecny planning zones: "Current Emergency Planning zones are only 10 miles in radius, and do not include Cape Cod, the Islands or Cape Ann. The NRC recommended evacuating 50 miles around Fukushima. Our demand: Emergency Planning zones should be increased to a 25 mile minimum radius, and the outdated and plans and procedures must be upgraded. Massachusetts has the authority to implement plans that are more conservative than those of the federal government, and the state should use this power." "People aren’t going to stay home at 10.1 miles. We need enhanced planning," Cantwell told the Globe Monday. 
• Postpone license extensions: "Pilgrim’s license to run will expire in June 2012. The plant has applied to operate for an additional 20 years (2012-2032). Our demand: Until lessons from Fukushima have been learned the above fixes have been put in place, the license extension should be postponed." The NRC has not issued a mortorium on relicensing desicions, but it is conducting a new safety review of U.S. plants.

Arguing that it doesn’t take a tsunami to cause a potential meltdown in a nuclear power plant, U.S. Representaive Edward Markey has filed legislation calling for new rules to expand the time reactors are required to cope without power. Markey has been invited to speak Saturday.

Pilgrim officials have continually stated that the plant complies with all NRC regulations, that workers compy with all safety regulations, and that the security of the plant is taken seriously.

The rally begins at 10 a.m. and should end at noon.

Tuesday, May 10, Entergy officials will handle questions from Plymouth residents in officials in a public forum at Plymouth North High School at 7 p.m.

Information for this article was taken from Pilgrim: MUST Facebook page and the Boston Globe.