(Plymouth Nuclear Power Station/Facebook)
DUXBURY, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — One of Pilgrim Power's most vocal critics isn't quite ready to lay down arms as the old nuclear power station prepares to permanently shut down.
Mary Lampert lives in Duxbury—ten miles away, but within the Plymouth plant's evacuation zone—and has been pushing for the plant to be shut down for over 30 years.
She said her watch won't be over when Pilgrim turns off the reactor over a five-hour period Friday after nearly 47 years of operation.
"We'll be safer once it's shut, but we're not out of the woods," she said. "We're not out of the woods until the highly radioactive spent fuel leaves the site."
Entergy, the company that owns the plant, says that used fuel will remain secured and under guard on the site until the Department of Energy removes it.
The process of decommissioning the plant will take a very long time—not beginning until the 2060s, Entergy says.
Lampert said some activists will be outside with champagne at closing time, but she won't. She doesn't want to cheer anyone being unemployed.
In the meantime, she doesn't want people to think the work is over.
"People I think have the misunderstanding that once the key is turned off, then you can forget about it, all worries are over," she said. "Yes, risk is reduced, but it is not eliminated. And also, we do not want to be stuck paying to decommission that site in the long run. We do not want to be stuck with a dirty site."
WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal) reports