A state hearing officer has recommended that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection again thwart Holtec International’s quest for a permit to release some 860,000 gallons of irradiated wastewater into the Cape Cod Bay.

More specifically, Salvatore M. Giorlandino, chief presiding officer for the state DEP’s Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution, recommended—after a lengthy hearing last week—that Holtec International’s appeal of an earlier DEP decision on the wastewater release be denied.

Holtec is the company decommissioning the shuttered Pilgrim Nuclear Station in Plymouth. MassDEP in July 2024 turned down Holtec’s request for a modified surface water discharge permit to release the irradiated wastewater into the bay. Holtec filed its appeal a month later.

In his re

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