U.S. Sen. Ed Markey is working to identify an independent laboratory to test radioactive water from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station before any possible discharge of the water into Cape Cod Bay.
Holtec, the company that owns Pilgrim, is looking for a way to dispose of about a million gallons of water as part of the plant decommissioning.
Markey suggested at a hearing in Plymouth last week that the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution test the water, but WHOI does not do land-based water testing, according to senior scientist Ken Buesseler, a marine radiochemist.
“I think the first thing to clear up is that we are not a lab that tests nuclear-contaminated materials from the reactor site,” he said. “We are a lab that, once something gets out of a pipe and into the ocean, we can certainly help with that.”
He said the pre-disposal water testing should be done using highly sensitive measurements, because otherwise some radioactive elements could be present at levels too low to detect.
Meanwhile, who will pay for the testing has become an issue.
After the hearing, Holtec CEO Kris Singh said in a letter to Markey that the senator’s request for the testing amounted to an offer to “sponsor” it.
Markey, though, contends that Holtec should pay for the testing using Pilgrim’s decommissioning trust fund, which Holtec controls. Massachusetts electricity ratepayers paid into the billion-dollar fund.
