Tag Archives: shutting down Pilgrim

Vote Cyr if you want Pilgrim closed ASAP and decommissioned property.

If you’re undecided between Julian Cyr and Anthony Schiavi, a more-reasonable-than-many- Republicans Republican, compare them on the issue of the closure of Pilgrim. There is no more pressing issue at this time than the need to close the decrepit Pilgrim now, rather than risk two more years of increasing dysfunction. (Not to mention the risk […]

October 28, 2016 – 3:11 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Nuclear power: what a mess.

What a mess. Nuclear power was once touted as miracle of the future which would provide virtually free electricity. A nuclear power plant’s smokestack-less, clean profile was the very image of the sexy future. The world rushed to embrace it. 60 years later, sadder-but-wiser, we know that nuclear power has inherent flaws as a technology. […]

September 22, 2016 – 12:30 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

PILGRIM AND EVERSOURCE: WHAT TO DO ABOUT COMPANIES IN CONTEMPT?

Laws are codified public sentiment. They are supposed to represent what’s right. They exist to protect us. But sometimes laws don’t feel like that. Case in point: the laws that allow two local companies to act like outlaws. I’m speaking of course of Entergy and Eversource, both widely perceived to be endangering the public health […]

April 19, 2016 – 7:02 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Pilgrim now admittedly unsafe.

The announcement that Pilgrim will close by July 2019 is a cause for celebration. But there is, when you think about it, a sobering side effect. The decision to close the plant because spending the money necessary to make it safe would make it unprofitable is an implicit admission that it is unsafe. In fact, […]

October 15, 2015 – 11:58 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged | Comments (0)

The bottomline is Entergy’s only concern

It has made the headlines here and in Boston: Entergy, the parent company of Pilgrim nuclear power plant is, at long last, considering closing it down. The gist of the story: after years of faltering performance plant has recently been ranked as one of the worst in the nation. If the cost of making the […]

September 24, 2015 – 11:57 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Pilgrim shutdown and the real role of the NRC

Today’s big front page story suggests that the shutdown of Pilgrim may be imminent now that this antiquated plant has fallen to worst-in-nation status. This is heartening new to the great majority of Cape Codders who want to see the end this upwind threat defused at long last. But any celebrating would be premature. Governor […]

September 3, 2015 – 12:34 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The emotional style of the Unconcerned

The letters and other opinion pieces in these pages taking the not-to-worry line on Pilgrim are framed as science-oriented, fact-based , cooler heads vs. a scared, irrational mob of kneejerk naysayers. But it’s not really about the facts. Rather, call it a difference in emotional style: the unruffled, imperturbable unconcerned vs. the concerned, who allow […]

May 1, 2015 – 11:19 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (0)

Nuclear power is dead

The most compelling argument for closing Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant for those off us nearby and downwind is that it should never have been built there in the first place with “no escape from the Cape” (and none imaginable). Although the worst case scenario is unlikely, the consequences are so devastating and terminal, it seems […]

January 1, 2015 – 2:08 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Civilly disobedient grandmothers

Ralph Waldo Emerson, famous 19th century idealist, upon finding his buddy Henry David Thoreau in the local jail: “Henry, what are you doing in there?” Thoreau (in there for protesting a poll tax): “Ralph, what are you doing out there?” Once again the clear will of the community is being spearheaded by a handful of […]

October 24, 2014 – 2:55 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Hiroshima and Pilgrim: rational fear

It’s debatable whether the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, horror though it was, was justifiable as the most life-sparing (at least for Americans) way of forcing Japan to surrender. But one thing is clear– that debut of nuclear power has proved a hard act to follow. The powers-that-be tried hard to erase that initial […]

August 17, 2014 – 2:44 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)