Massachusetts

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140321/NEWS/403210337/-1/NEWS01


By CHRISTINE LEGERE
clegere@capecodonline.com
March 21, 2014
PLYMOUTH — An expert on safety and security at nuclear power plants told a Plymouth District Court judge Thursday he believes the thousands of spent fuel rods packed in pools at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station present a danger to the public.

Gordon Thompson, executive director of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies in Cambridge, testified on the potential dangers of the Plymouth nuclear plant during the third day of the trespassing trial involving 12 Cape Downwinders. The Downwinders are an activist group whose mission is to protect the lives of Cape and Islands residents from a nuclear disaster at Pilgrim.

Thompson said the spent fuel rod assemblies emit radiation. "Those assemblies will be hazardous for several hundred thousand years."

According to Thompson, the original pools at Pilgrim were designed 42 years ago to hold about 580 spent fuel assemblies. The pools there and at other nuclear plants were redesigned and fitted with racks to accommodate more rods when plans to store spent fuel at a single repository in Nevada were stalled.

About 3,800 rods at Pilgrim are stored in pools in the upper level of a building outside the reactor.

"My position is the original design capacity was much safer than the high density configuration," Thompson said. According to the scientist, being tightly packed increases the risk the rods will ignite.

A nuclear event at Pilgrim could be triggered by earthquake, extreme wind, equipment failure, employee error or attacks by persons inside or outside the plant.

"There are double the number of rods in Plymouth pools than there were at Fukushima," Thompson said. "Consequences could exceed those at Fukushima."


Governor pens letter to NRC

Gov. Deval Patrick made good on his promise to Cape Downwinders at the Statehouse last week and penned a letter to the chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to express concern on behalf of 15 communities on the Cape.
"The unique geographical relationship between Pilgrim and the communities comprising Cape Cod and Southeastern Massachusetts could put those residents at serious risk should there be an accident," the governor wrote in his letter.
To view the letter, go to capecodonline.com/nrcletter.
Thompson said the spent fuel rod assemblies emit radiation. "Those assemblies will be hazardous for several hundred thousand years."

According to Thompson, the original pools at Pilgrim were designed 42 years ago to hold about 580 spent fuel assemblies. The pools there and at other nuclear plants were redesigned and fitted with racks to accommodate more rods when plans to store spent fuel at a single repository in Nevada were stalled.