Massachusetts Limits Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants

The commonwealth joins eight other states in restricting carbon dioxide emissions. The agreement does not impact Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.

Massachusetts has signed an agreement with eight other states to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 90 million tons over the next six years. As part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) – the nation’s first mandatory “cap-and-trade” program for carbon dioxide emissions – Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont are lowering the current  cap on power plant emissions from the 165  to 91 million tons per year, starting in 2014. After 2020, the cap will continue to lower by 2.5 percent per year.   “This is one of the largest greenhouse gas reduction measures that we have seen,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rick Sullivan.  The agreement does not impact …

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Trial Date Set for Pilgrim Anti-Nuke Protesters

The trial of a group of protesters arrested at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in May is expected to begin March 18 at Plymouth District Court.

Twelve people who were arrested during a protst at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station last May will get their day in court, March 18 in Plymouth District Court.  The activitsts, may of whom belong to an anti-nuclear group called Cape Downwinders, were opposed to the relicensing of Pilgrim. The 14 protesters were attempting to deliver a letter of demands to the plant manager when they were arrested on trespassing charges. Pilgrim is owned and operated by Entergy Corporation of Louisiana. According to a blog post from Cape Downwinders, the anti-nuclear group that organized the protest, the group will argue their actions were necessary to help stop what they believe is the greater threat of nuclear energy. To bolster their claims, they hope to …

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NRC Sponsors Cancer Risk Study

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is implementing a National Academy of Sciences committee’s recommendations to perform a pilot study of cancer risk in populations around six U.S. nuclear power plant sites and a nuclear fuel facility.

The NRC is asking the Academy to carry out this effort, which will help the agency determine whether to extend the study to the remaining U.S. reactor and certain fuel cycle sites. The pilot effort will examine each of the seven sites with two types of epidemiological studies. The first will examine multiple cancer types in populations living near the facilities; the second will be a case-control study of cancers in children born near the facilities. The six reactor sites are: Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Morris, Ill. Millstone Power Station, Waterford, Conn. Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, Forked River, N.J. Haddam Neck (decommissioned), Haddam Neck, Conn. Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant (decommissioned), Charlevoix, Mich. …

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Who Sets National Nuclear Energy Policy?

Who decides if the U.S. is going to use nuclear energy to meet this country’s electric needs? It’s a question we get here at the NRC not infrequently

By Lauren Woodall NRC Attorney Who decides if the U.S. is going to use nuclear energy to meet this country’s electric needs? It’s a question we get here at the NRC not infrequently. The short answer: Congress and the President. Together they make the nation’s laws and policies directing civilian nuclear activity – for both nuclear energy and nuclear materials used in science, academia, and industry. Federal laws, like the Atomic Energy Act, set out our national nuclear policy. For example, in the Atomic Energy Act, Congress provided that the nation will “encourage widespread participation in the development and utilization of atomic energy for peaceful purposes.” Other federal laws, like the Energy Policy Act of 2005, call for the federal …

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What gets “upped” in an uprate?

Every year, a few nuclear power plants ask the NRC for permission to boost their power output in what’s called an “uprate.” The principles behind an uprate are fairly simple

NRC Enhances its Fight Against Counterfeits

The supply chain in the nuclear industry has changed considerably with globalization, and that requires that we change with it. We’re talking about a vast array of parts and equipment coming not only from within the United States, but also from overseas.

Selectmen Approve Referendum on Pilgrim Relicensing

Plymouth residents will get a chance to vote to direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend relicensing efforts of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant until safety improvements from the lessons learned at Fukushima, Japan are implemented first.

AG: Pilgrim Needs More Review Before Relicensing

Attorney General Martha Coakley is asking federal regulators to look at the Fukushima disaster before granting an extended license to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.

The state's attorney general is urging federal regulators to consider the Fukushima nuclear disaster when they review the relicensing request from Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.  On Friday, Martha Coakley's office sent an appeal to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to a report in the Boston Globe. She asked regulators to look more closely at the fallout in Japan following an earthquake and tsunami near the Fukushima Daiichi reactors, which are similar in design to the Pilgrim plant.  After the Fukushima disaster, Coakley's office asked the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (which operates under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) to postpone a relicensing approval until it could look at new data from Japan. Coakley said problems …

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Pilgrim Shuts Down Salt Water System Due to Staff Concerns

The salt water subsystem at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station was declared inoperable Thursday when staff decided that in-rushing current might exceed thermal overload settings during “degraded” voltage conditions, according to a report on the Nuclear Regulat

NRC Rejects Pilgrim Watch, AG Petitions Seeking Suspensions of Nuclear Reviews

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has rejected several petitions to suspend reviews of U.S. nuclear power generators until the agency had completed its reviews of possible implications for U.S. reactors after the Fukushima nuclear emergency in March.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has rejected petitions by state Attorney General Martha Coakley, Pilgrim Watch and other groups to stop NRC decisions and proceedings until the agency had completed its reviews of possible implications for U.S. reactors, including a petition to suspend the Pilgrim nuclear power plant's license renewal review.  Pilgrim Watch, a nuclear power watchdog group led by Duxbury's Mary Lampbert, has submitted several petitions to the NRC since Pilgrim owner Entergy began the relicensing process more than three years ago. Most of those petitions have been rejected. Read the NRC's full decision below.    

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