Heath, Rowe
HEATH, ROWE — Congressman Richard E. Neal brought good news to Heath in the form of an $88,343 grant that will pay for up-to-date breathing apparatus for a dozen members of the Heath Fire Department.
But any news about how long Rowe will keep storing nuclear waste from the former Yankee Rowe nuclear plant is more complicated.
Meeting with Selectmen’s Chairwoman Marilyn Wilson, Yankee Rowe’s Robert Capstick, state Rep. Paul Mark, and members of the Yankee Rowe Spent Fuel Storage and Removal Community Advisory Board, Neal said he has signed on to the Dold bill, which would provide up to $100 million for 13 communities, including Rowe, that have borne the responsibility for temporary storage of spent fuel for dozens of years.
“Yankee doesn’t have an official position on the Dold bill,” said Capstick, director of government regulatory and public affairs for Yankee. “Our objective is for the federal government to remove nuclear materials from the Rowe site. And then we can go out of business.”
Capstick said Yankee Rowe, which closed in 1992, is now a “single asset company,” with about 127 metric tons of spent fuel housed within 2 acres of the 1,800-acre site.
“A consortium of utilities own Yankee Rowe Atomic Co., and they are responsible for all the cost,” he said.
He said the federal government was supposed to remove all fuel from the site in 1998 — but has failed to take away the spent fuel. In the 1990s, nuclear officials hoped Yucca Mountain, Nev., would become the permanent storage site for nuclear waste. Capstick said he would still like to see a nuclear waste storage facility there. “The current administration doesn’t believe in Yucca Mountain,” he added.
In July, Rowe Selectmen wrote to Neal, asking him to co-sponsor the “Interim Fuel Storage Site Compensation Act of 2016,” which would pay $15 per kilogram annually of spent nuclear fuel stored at former plants using nuclear power to generate electricity.
The bill seeking compensation for interim storage was proposed by Congressman Robert J. Dold for Zion, Ill., a town near the Lake Michigan shore that has been housing spent fuel since 1998.
“For me, this was a request from local government, but it’s a national issue,” Neal said. “There are decommissioned plants across the country, and I think the federal government is obligated to provide mitigation costs, since many energy plans started with the Department of Energy.”
Heath to buy fire equipment
Earlier Monday, in Heath, Neal spoke about the importance of equipping firefighters with gear that can be life-saving in a fire. Neal said four of the six firefighters who died in the Worcester Cold Storage building fire in 1999 were among his constituents. He said their breathing apparatus provided enough air for only 23 minutes and did not provide “night vision” so they could find their way in the fire.
Heath Fire Chief Ken Gilbert said the existing breathing apparatus is a hodge-podge of used equipment, some of which is obsolete.
Heath residents also pressed Neal for help moving Last Mile broadband efforts forward. Gilbert pointed out that the Heath Fire Department is one of the few fire stations that was not connected to the state’s “Middle Mile” broadband.
They also discussed the town’s need for a public safety complex. Former Gov. Deval Patrick was to provide a $2 million grant for building such a complex, but the contract was later cancelled by the Baker administration.
