Oct 19 - Cape Cod Times

A Duxbury citizens group largely run by one woman has succeeded in forcing the company that runs the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to go before a panel of judges to defend a portion of its application for a 20-year operating license extension.

This is only the second time in U.S. history that a hearing has been approved in an operating license renewal process, said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"If nothing else, I hope this sends a message," said Mary Lampert, founder of Pilgrim Watch. "People don't get involved because they think it's a David and Goliath situation. They think they'll just be banging their heads against a wall. So I hope this encourages others to get into the process."

Entergy Nuclear Operations, which operates the plant, has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the plant's operating license from 2012 to 2032.

The application process allows for a citizen, group, or agency to request a hearing questioning the merits of any portion of the application, Sheehan said.

The state Attorney General's office had tried and failed to get a hearing on the company's storage of used nuclear fuel on the property, he said. But the Atomic Safety & Licensing Board (ASLB) panel, the quasi-judicial arm of the NRC that handles license renewals, ruled that the issue is out of the purview of the renewal process, Sheehan said.

The attorney general's office is appealing that verdict in federal court, he added.

The ASLB did find merit in one of two issues raised by Pilgrim Watch, namely, the monitoring of underground pipes and tanks that contain radioactive water.

Lampert, who has been fighting the Pilgrim plant since 1987, said the plant, which opened in 1972 making it one of the oldest in country, needs monitoring wells -- anywhere from 14 to 20 of them -- to assure that the pipes and tanks don't leak.

"It's just common sense," she said.

Entergy attempted to negotiate a settlement with Lampert's group, by offering to add monitoring devices, but their offer was not enough to satisfy Pilgrim Watch, said David Tarantino, spokesman for Entergy.

"We'll offer a settlement again," Tarantino said.

There are 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S., Sheehan said.

Forty-eight have had operating license extensions approved. None has ever been denied, Sheehan said.

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station supplies between eight and 10 percent of the electricity in Massachusetts, Tarantino said.

The hearing will delay the renewal by several months. The review will now take until July 2008, Sheehan said.

-----

To see more of the Cape Cod Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes .

Copyright (c) 2007, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.