In January this year, state Representative Sarah Peake of Provincetown filed a bill to expand the emergency planning zone around Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth from a 10-mile radius to a 50-mile radius. It was a bill she had filed the previous year, as well.
Now Peake says she’s setting that bill aside, not because it’s no longer needed, but because she wants to take into consideration all the impacts of Pilgrim going dark. That will likely lead to more sweeping legislation, she says.
"I want to make sure that Plymouth and other stakeholders have a seat at the table," she told Living Lab on the Point.
"That we’re doing the right things regarding public safety but also retraining and finding jobs for the 600-plus people who currently work at the plant."
Peake says she will use the experience of Vermont and Connecticut to write new legislation. Those states have both hosted nuclear power plants that have recently shut down.