Cancer risk near the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station will be the focus of an upcoming discussion by the state's public advisory panel on Pilgrim.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has committed to provide a speaker to review relevant cancer studies at a future meeting, said Jack Priest, who represents the health department on the panel.
“There's been several cancer studies that have been performed,” he said. “And we had a discussion about that at DPH, and we can provide a speaker to come in and talk about the history of those.”
The discussion will likely happen in March or May, because the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens’ Advisory Panel only meets every two months, and January is already booked. Federal officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are scheduled to speak.
Panel member Mary Lampert, of Duxbury, has been pushing for a more thorough review of health issues around the nuclear plant, which was shut down in 2019.
Debate continues over what to do with more than 800,000 gallons of radioactive water inside the plant.
The company that owns Pilgrim, Holtec International, recently lost an administrative appeal over the state’s denial of an amended permit it needed to discharge the water into Cape Cod Bay.
To be effective, the decision still has to be finalized by the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Speaking Monday to the advisory panel, Joe McDonough, project director for Holtec, said the company is aware of the recommended ruling.
Holtec is waiting for the commissioner’s final decision, “and then we'll evaluate what the next steps are,” he said.
Observers have long said the dispute over releasing radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay is likely to wind up in court.
