Protesters Use Cape Traffic To Protest Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant
SAGAMORE (CBS/AP) - An anti-nuclear group took advantage of the Labor Day traffic jam leaving the Cape to spread their message.
Dozens of protesters who call themselves the Cape Downwinders waved to visitors at the base of the Sagamore Bridge Monday and demanded the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth be shut down.
The group says Cape residents and tourists could be trapped if a serious accident ever occurred at Pilgrim because there is no evacuation plan.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant Protest
They also claim the nuclear plant is not safe.
"Basically, it's another Fukushima waiting to happen," one protester told WBZ NewsRadio 1030, referring to the nuclear power plant in Japan where three reactors melted down in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted last year to re-license Pilgrim through 2032. The plant's operators say the facility is safe and secure, adding that it produces 10 percent of Massachusetts' electrical needs.
Gov. Deval Patrick said recently that it wasn't clear to him whether the state needed Pilgrim.
The recent announcement that the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant would close at the end of 2014 has focused renewed attention on Pilgrim.
Both are owned by Entergy Corp.
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