A state appeal over the proposed discharge of radioactive water from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is about to get underway.
A pre-hearing conference is scheduled for either Wednesday or Thursday, followed by a series of deadlines for the parties to submit testimony over the next four months.
An estimated five days of hearings will be scheduled for the period between June 9 and 20.
The owner of Pilgrim, Holtec International, is challenging the state’s denial of a permit modification the company would need to release the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay.
Holtec is decommissioning the plant, where the nuclear reactor was shut down in 2019.
The appeal is similar to a court case, but it goes before the state’s Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution.
Parties to the appeal include Holtec, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the towns of Barnstable and Plymouth, and concerned residents and organizations.
They have agreed to the inclusion of four specific issues to be adjudicated by a presiding officer, but the inclusion of four other issues remains contested.
Before the appeal proceeds, the presiding officer will determine which issues will be adjudicated.
Once that determination and the pre-hearing conference are done, Holtec has 30 days to file testimony. That deadline is expected to fall around Feb. 14.
After that, intervenors from the community have 30 days to file their testimony, followed by another 30 days for the state Department of Environmental Protection to do the same.
Then, Holtec has 21 days to file a rebuttal. That date is estimated to be around May 7, in time for the hearing to start in June.
Opponents of the water discharge have called on Holtec to ship the water to a licensed disposal facility or store it on site while the radiation levels degrade.
Holtec says radiation levels in the water will be comparable to what they were in 2015, when Pilgrim released water into Cape Cod Bay while the plant was still operating.