Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren urge new plan for Pilgrim Nuclear Plant

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http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130820/NEWS/308200332

Senators urge new plan for Pilgrim

By CHRISTINE LEGERE
[e-mail]
August 20, 2013

The state's two U.S. senators recently stepped into the nuclear safety debate, writing a letter to Entergy Corp. to urge the owner-operator of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to expand the emergency planning zone and develop a realistic evacuation plan should the plant have a radioactive release.

Entergy updated its estimated evacuation times late last year for the 40-year-old plant, based on the latest U.S. Census figures.

Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, both Democrats, said those estimates are based on "highly unrealistic" assumptions.

"Entergy should go back to the drawing board and create a plan that properly takes the realities of weather, traffic, human behavior and other factors into account," states the letter. "Right now, such a real-world plan does not appear to exist."

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1. The letter from Markey and Warren (pdf)

is at http://static.djlmgdigital.com/cct/capecodonline/graphics/pdf/entergypilgrim.pdf

[MADem]

2. Labor Day Protest At Sagamore Bridge Will Target Pilgrim Nuclear Plant

I wish they'd close the damn thing and go to wind power.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/09/01/labor-day-protest-at-sagamore-bridge-will-target-pilgrim-nuclear-plant/

Since the power plant was first licensed to operate in 1972, Cape officials and residents have been critical of evacuation plans in the event of a disaster. Due to the difficulty of getting all of the Cape’s residents over the Sagamore and Bourne bridges during an emergency, having residents shelter in place at their homes is a primary response if something goes wrong at Pilgrim.

Gov. Deval Patrick said recently that it wasn’t clear to him whether the state needed Pilgrim.