Concerns over public health and federal oversight dominated Monday’s meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel, as officials revealed that nearly 800,000 gallons of process water remain on the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station site. The update comes as residents from neighborhoods near the plant presented harrowing testimony regarding local cancer rates and questioned the safety of current decommissioning standards.

David Noyes, Site Vice President for Holtec, provided a technical status report on the site’s transition, noting that while most secondary buildings have been leveled, the core process structures remain. All of the buildings have been demolished down to grade with the exception of the major plant process buildings: the reactor building, turbine building, emergency diesel generator building, and our retention building, Noyes said. He reported that as of late March, the on-site water volume stood at 797,652 gallons, a figure that has seen only a slight reduction since January due to a colder winter slowing natural evaporation. Noyes also noted that reactor vessel segmentation is scheduled to begin this spring.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) faced intense questioning from the panel regarding its ability to maintain oversight following significant agency-wide personnel changes. NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell confirmed a sharp decline in the federal agency's workforce, stating, The agency has approximately 500 fewer employees than it did on January 20th, 2025. This revelation drew concern from panel members regarding the intensity of inspections during the critical final stages of decommissioning. Jim Lampert questioned the NRC's reliance on the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) model for radiation safety, asking, What data do you have showing that the LNT model is wrong? while noting the agency is currently under executive orders to re-examine the science behind current radiation standards.

The safety of the site’s dry cask storage was also under fire. Mary Lampert raised the alarm regarding modern threats, stating, The instruments of attack have certainly been demonstrated in Ukraine and Iran to be significantly improved, that being the use of drones carrying missiles. NRC representatives maintained that while they cannot discuss malevolent act assessments in detail, they have considered such scenarios and concluded that radiological contamination would be limited to a small radius.

Public testimony brought a somber tone to the Great Hall as residents from the Priscilla Beach area described what they characterized as a localized health crisis. Joanne Wilson Keenan of Save Our Bay presented data regarding a suspected cancer cluster, citing 24 residents on four streets near Priscilla Beach, where 11 have died. She emphasized that radiation causes more cancer, heart disease and stroke in women in comparison to men, arguing that current safety thresholds are insufficient. Priscilla Beach resident Joanne Coran added that the community feels abandoned by federal regulators, stating, The NRC has a big credibility gap with the people here in Plymouth because you let Pilgrim operate in the red degraded column.

Local environmental advocates also focused on the methods Holtec is using to clear the remaining 800,000 gallons of water. Andrew Gottlieb of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod asked, Does the NRC regulations allow for evaporation as a means of disposing of waste water? NRC Health Physicist Greg Chapman confirmed that within specific dose limits, it is allowed as disposal. This prompted further debate about the cumulative effects of tritium being released into the atmosphere over the town.

Panel members also scrutinized the technical details of the remaining structures. Curtis Little asked for clarification on concrete sampling within the reactor building, leading Noyes to admit that bores of the existing concrete told us there are some areas where we need to physically remove some of the concrete because of radiological contamination. Mary Joe Gatslick inquired if these findings would be shared with the community, to which Noyes responded they would be included in the License Termination Plan scheduled for submittal in December. Chair Kevin Kanty specifically asked about the impact of recent winter storms on the project's timeline, with Noyes confirming that work only paused for a few days to divert resources to snow removal near the spent fuel storage pads.

Financial and regulatory agreements between the town, the state, and Holtec were also highlighted as the panel discussed the 10 millirem cleanup standard. Jack Priest of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health noted that regardless of potential federal changes to radiation standards, we have a more restrictive agreement in place with Holtec via a settlement with the Commonwealth. Barry Potvin reminded the panel that the town's health data showed cancer incidence rates began to rise roughly 10 years after the plant began operations, emphasizing the need for continued vigilance.

The meeting concluded with a contentious review of the panel’s 2025 Annual Report. Jim Lampert cast the lone dissenting vote against the document, arguing that the panel was failing its statutory duty to provide meaningful guidance to state leadership. In my view, any fair reading of this entire duty is that the report should advise the governor, Lampert said. This report offers absolutely no advice... I can't imagine anyone ever reading it. Despite his objections, the panel moved to finalize the report with various formatting and content updates proposed by Curtis Little.

Motion Made by D. Noyes to approve the 2025 Annual Report incorporating the discussed edits. Motion Passed (14-1-1) with J. Lampert voting in the negative and one member abstaining.