The panel began the night by nominating Co-Chairs. Sean Mullin (Minority Leader of the Senate Appointee; Town of Plymouth) and Kurt Schwartz (Director of MEMA) were appointed unanimously. The two Chairs will alternate running the meetings.

Mr. Schwartz made a brief statement: his goal is to facilitate an open, fair, and respectful discussion on all matters as long as it relates to decommissioning and planning – which is very broad. Mr. Mullin also stressed civility and respect for all opinions, and added that NDCAP is a working group that will utilize public input.

The panel voted unanimously to adopt Roberts Rules of Order as a method to conduct the meetings efficiently and effectively.

The group discussed open meeting laws and how they pertain to sub-committees. There was a motion to get an official opinion from the Attorney General, but the motion did not pass. Some suggested that the sub-committees were in fact subject to open meeting laws and there was no point spending time contacting the Attorney General. The issue will be revisited in the future.

The panel also decided to meet 6:30-8:00 on the third Wednesday of every month, with the exception of August and December, with some flexibility if needed. Note that this is a later than the 6pm start time of the last two meetings to account for panel members traveling from Boston.

The panel discussed support services that might be needed. Some of the items identified were: 1) a website so the public can easily access information or pose questions; 2) 3rd party individuals/experts as needed; 3) staff support for taking and posting meeting minutes and posting agendas; 4) help with the Governor’s report.

Subcommittees and topics for future meetings were discussed at some length. In the coming weeks, NDCAP members will be letting the Chairs know which subcommittees they are interested in, and if other topics need to be covered. It was suggested that only a few subcommittees be established now, with more subcommittees being phased in over time. It was also suggested that the panel needs to become educated on various issues related to decommissioning in these early stages; while there are some more pressing topics (DECON vs. SAFSTOR; and dry casks storage plans) that should be addressed sooner rather than later.

The public had the chance to weigh in sub-committee ideas: community involvement, education, economics, experts, regulatory and legal issues, and clean up standards are a sampling of suggested topics put forth by the public.

Learn more about the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel →