The Cape Cod Times reported on a packed NRC meeting in Plymouth, MA, hosted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on January 31 to explain the continued safety issues at the plant. The article begins:
"Paul Gunter (pictured) traveled from Washington, D.C., Tuesday to hear how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would explain a detailed email characterizing Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station as poorly equipped and poorly run.
The email was written in December by Donald Jackson, the leader of a federal inspection team sent to Pilgrim to evaluate its systems, procedures and staff.
Before the meeting started, many, including Gunter, were critical of the plant and the federal oversight.
"Only half of the problem is Pilgrim; the other half is the NRC's inability to enforce regulations," said Gunter, director of nuclear oversight for the national watchdog organization Beyond Nuclear.
Gunter was one of 300 who came to Tuesday's public meeting prompted by Jackson's internal email, which was inadvertently sent to a Pilgrim opponent.
Later in the meeting, former state Sen. Daniel Wolf of Harwich said the NRC's role is a balance of public safety with corporate issues. "I think it's out of balance," he said.
And Cape Downwinder Donald Barton told federal officials that the NRC's credibility "is at an all-time low in Massachusetts."