The company that owns the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is responding to questions from a state panel about how Pilgrim treats radioactive water inside the plant to reduce pollution.
Holtec International, which is decommissioning the inoperative plant, has sparked community outcry for its proposal to discharge what was originally more than 1 million gallons of radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay. As the appeal proceeds, the water is evaporating into the outdoor air.
David Noyes, who represents Holtec on the state’s nuclear advisory panel, told the panel Monday that the company uses filters, charcoal, and ion-exchange resin to remove as many impurities as possible, both radiological and otherwise.
He said the radioactive waste demineralizer contains 10 cubic feet of charcoal and 20 cubic feet of ion-exchange resin.
“We have the ability to be able to vary that resin-and-charcoal mix, based on radiological and non-radiological impurity concentrations,” he said.
Treatment cannot remove all pollutants, including the radioactive material tritium.
Opponents in the community are fighting the proposed release of water and hope to stop the evaporation as well.
In addition, they have voiced security concerns about the storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Pilgrim facility in Plymouth. The waste is held in steel-reinforced concrete drums, called casks.
Diane Turco, of Harwich, spoke for one community group, Cape Downwinders.
“Cape Downwinders … has been asking for the current, easy physical access to the dry casks to be reviewed and improved upon,” she said. “That area remains easily vulnerable.”
With regard to the water, Noyes said human exposure to radiation from water discharged into Cape Cod Bay would be very low — measured in ten-thousandths of a millirem.
“For perspective, radiological exposure of 10 millirem is received for a chest x-ray, and the average individual receives 620 millirem from natural and manmade sources,” he said, referring to the annual estimated exposure in the United States.
Noyes said two areas of Pilgrim have been drained of radioactive water. In June, more than 360,000 gallons were drained from the reactor cavity and dryer-separator pit into a more enclosed space, the torus.
He previously said moving the water to the torus should reduce evaporation.
Holtec is also conducting a fresh round of water testing, he said.
“We wanted to get another data set of the constituents, both radiological and non-radiological, in the water. … We're awaiting the results of those samples that were taken on the 9th of July,” he said.
Opponents maintain that the risk, whether real or perceived, of discharging the water into Cape Cod Bay is unacceptable and would hurt the Cape economy.
