The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, MA is pictured from the sea on Oct. 13, 2015.
The company decommissioning a nuclear power plant in Plymouth cannot discharge a million-plus gallons of industrial wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, per a determination state regulators released Thursday.
Holtec International, which owns the decommissioned Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, has sought for years the authorization to discharge 1.1 million gallons of wastewater from the plant's spent nuclear-fuel pool -- which contains some radioactive material -- into the bay.
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Local advocates have long opposed the plan, and last summer the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection tentatively denied a permit for the company to dump the wastewater into the bay, under the state's Ocean Sanctuaries Act
On Thursday, the department made its final determination to officially deny the permit Holtec sought for the discharge.
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"MassDEP reviewed the Holtec application, and after consultation with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, determined that Cape Cod Bay is a protected ocean sanctuary," a release from MassDEP said. "The Ocean Sanctuaries Act prohibits the 'dumping or discharge of commercial, municipal, domestic or industrial wastes' into ocean sanctuaries. The water that Holtec proposes to discharge qualifies as industrial wastewater, and therefore, the proposed discharge is prohibited."
