Entergy: Licensed to Kill in Cape Cod Bay | Cape Cod Bay Watch | Pilgrim Nuclear Plant

Entergy: Licensed to Kill in Cape Cod Bay

State and Federal Regulators Should Enforce the Clean Water Act to Stop Entergy’s Destruction of Cape Cod Bay

To make electricity at maximum profit, Entergy’s Pilgrim nuclear power station sucks in 510 million gallons a day of water from Cape Cod Bay and uses it to cool the system.  This operating method is called a “once-through” cooling water system, or “cooling water intake structure” (CWIS).   Entergy sucks in fish, fish eggs, larvae, plankton, zooplankton and any type of sea life that is in the area.  The nuclear power station has trash racks to prevent larger fish and debris from getting sucked into the cooling water system. Fish that get slammed against the trash racks by the force of the pumps are usually killed.  This is called “impingement...”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says Entergy causes a four square mile “thermal plume” in Cape Cod Bay as a result of its operations — that is, the hot, polluted water covers an area of 4 square miles every day. This is an underestimate-the plume is certainly larger.

Smaller marine life that isn’t trapped in the trash racks gets sucked through the reactor and is “entrained” and run through the system.  The water is heated up to 32 degrees hotter than when it came in.   The hot sea water back to the Bay – about 32 degrees hotter and polluted with toxic chemicals and radioactive materials.  Entergy is also allowed to do “thermal backwashes” to clean the screens – using the equivalent of fire hoses to force the entrained organisms back out into the Bay.  The permit allows thermal backwash water to be heated up to 120 degrees F.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says Entergy causes a four square mile “thermal plume” in Cape Cod Bay as a result of its operations — that is, the hot, polluted water covers an area of 4 square miles every day. This is an underestimate-the plume is certainly larger.

Entergy takes the sea waterfor free, from Cape Cod Bay, which belongs to all of the residents of Massachusetts.  Entergy has a “license to kill” all of this sea life — issued by the U.S. EPA and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

more: Cape Cod Bay Watch: Entergy: Licensed to Kill in Cape Cod Bay

Cape Cod Bay WatchAbout Us | Cape Cod Bay Watch

Cape Cod Bay Watch is a volunteer public interest group dedicated to stopping Entergy’s destructive “once through” cooling water operations at its nuclear reactor. We work with a wide range of groups and residents working to restore our communities and Cape Cod Bay in the face of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s unlawful decision to relicense Entergy-Louisiana’s operation of Pilgrim for another 20 years – until 2032.

In May 2012, the NRC granted the twenty year license extension for the Pilgrim plant. The second appeal by the AG’s Office, filed today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, challenges the NRC's decision to grant the extension without first considering the lessons learned from the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi and their relevance for the Pilgrim plant – a plant of similar design to those that failed in Japan. The NRC also refused, before relicensing, to consider additional mitigation measures raised by the AG's expert to reduce these risks. June 18, 2012
AG Coakley Appeals Decision by Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Relicense Plymouth Nuclear Power Plant for 20 Years
http://www.mass.gov/ago/

news-and-updates/
press-releases/2012/2012-06-18-pilgrim-relicensing-appeal.html

AG Coakley Appeals Decision by Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Relicense Plymouth Nuclear Power Pla

www.mass.gov

For the Media | Cape Cod Bay Watch

For the Media

BOSTON – Saying that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) acted “arbitrarily”

 and “abused its discretion” when it relicensed the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth for 20 years, Attorney General Martha Coakley appealed the decision today...

Media Releases

June 28, 2012: Citizen Groups Join Union at State House Rally Today Calling on Governor Patrick to Ask NRC to Close Pilgrim Nuclear During Union Lock-Out.

June 5, 2012: Media Advisory: Advocacy Groups to Rally Thursday Morning in Boston Before Hearing on NRC Post-Fukushima Orders

May 24, 2012: Media Report Says Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Relicensed, Same Day Groups Respond to Republican Congressmen’s Demand that NRC Relicense Pilgrim.
Click here to read letter.
Click here for media release.

Media Report: Entergy Wins U.S. Approval for Pilgrim’s License, Markey Says,Bloomberg Business Week, May 24, 2012