Nuclear Advisory Committee cochairwoman Rebecca Chin said Entergy last year promised $187,000 in annual funding for five years, but a new administrator reneged on that agreement and offered the town less. In response, the town’s emergency director, Fire Chief Kevin Nord, canceled all the training sessions, she said.
“We’ve been at the bottom of the pile,’’ Chin said, pointing to higher funding by Entergy for other towns near Pilgrim.
Last year Duxbury received approximately $100,000 in training funds, she said, while Marshfield, a town with fewer residents within the emergency zone, received twice as much.
Entergy spokeswoman Carol Wightman said the company is still in discussion with Duxbury officials and would not discuss the details of its funding offers.
“We are continuing those discussions with town officials with the objective that we come to an agreement that is both fair and equitable to the town of Duxbury and us,’’ Wightman said Monday.
Chin’s committee last week sought to pressure Entergy to be more generous by complaining to William Dean, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s top administrator for the northeast region.
Theoretically, the NRC has the power to shut down a plant’s operations if it is not satisfied with emergency planning.
The letter to Dean quoted Pilgrim’s emergency planning manager Tom White as offering two options, the first a grant of $100,000 for overall emergency management expenses, plus $15,000 for training, with the town responsible for any further training costs.
The second option offered the town a grant of $68,500, plus it would pay for “all training costs’’ and a provision for “equipment replacement and reimbursement.’’
Citing increased demands for training that include addressing issues raised by the Japanese nuclear disasters, Chin said training for town employees - police, firefighters, teachers, and the harbormaster department - to prepare them for their roles in an emergency response is both necessary and costly.
