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nation & worldlocalWeather
Complete forecast, B6
Volume 74, Issue 71
0 390994 24006
TODAY TUE WED
78°/57° 80°/58° 79°/59°
index sports
Bucs’ streak continues
The streaking Tampa Bay Buc-
caneers bolstered their playoff
hopes by building an early lead
and holding off Drew Brees and
the New Orleans Saints 16-11
for their fifth straight victory on
Sunday. C1
Horse show preview
In Marion County, one of the
annual signs of the holidays is
the two weeks of HITS shows that
ring in Christmas and the new
year. B1
For three years, from 1986 to 1989, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth was on a federally ordered shutdown because of frequent issues
with its equipment. The plant opened in 1972 and began having problems in the early 1980s. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission now ranks
Pilgrim as one of the three worst-performing plants in the country. Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times
That moment has become a foot-
note in the 30-year battle Lampert
has waged against Pilgrim power
plant owners and the Nuclear Reg-
ulatory Commission, the federal
overseerofthecountry’s99commercial
reactors.
As director of the Duxbury-based
Pilgrim Watch activist group, Lam-
pert spends a good 50 hours each
week on plant-related issues. She has
penned too many petitions to count,
urging the NRC to tighten require-
ments at Pilgrim. Most involve public
safety issues. One such petition called
for the shutdown of Pilgrim during
severe storms, prompted by a short
circuit in the electrical switchyard and
subsequent loss of plant power in the
January 2015 blizzard. All Lampert’s
petitions to date have been denied.
Pilgrim, a 680-megawatt reactor
that went online in 1972 under the
ownership of Boston Edison Co., was
a loser from the start, say Lampert
and other critics, with a switchyard
historically plagued by short circuits
during blizzards, unreliable backup
diesel generators and safety-related
systems that have failed when needed.
Groups such as Duxbury Citizens
Urging Responsible Energy, Plym-
outh Nuclear Matters Committee and
Plymouth County Nuclear Informa-
tion Committee all kept a close watch
ontheplant,worryingaboutthehealth
impact of radiation releases, lobbying
forreal-timeradiationmonitoringand
fretting over the multiple equipment
malfunctions.
PILGRIM’S PLIGHT
30 years ago, problems at the nuclear plant hinted at the future
By Christine Legere | Gatehouse Media Services
PLYMOUTH,MASS.—MaryLampertandasmallbandofprotesterssteppedacrossthepropertyline
atPilgrimNuclearPowerStationonNewYear’sEve1988,followingademonstrationagainsttherestart
of the troubled reactor after a three-year federally ordered shutdown.
ThegroupwaspromptlyarrestedbyPlymouthpolicefortrespassing.ItmarkedLampert’sfirsttriptojail.
“ItwasabunchofDuxburyladiesinfurcoats,”Lampertsayswithalaugh,describingthebewilderment
of some group members as they were ushered into jail cells.
SEE pilgrim, A6
By Laurie Kellman
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Donald
Trump on Sunday called a
recent CIA assessment of Rus-
sian hacking “ridiculous” and
says he’s not interested in get-
ting daily intelligence briefings
— an unprecedented public
dismissal by a president-elect
of the nation’s massive and
sophisticated intelligence
apparatus.
Trump’s remarks come as
key congressional Repub-
licans joined Democrats
in demanding a bipartisan
investigation into the Kremlin’s
activities and questioned
consideration of Exxon
Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson — who
has close business ties with
Moscow — as head of the State
Department.
Asked whether he’s rejecting
valuable intelligence on “Fox
News Sunday,” Trump was
defiant.
Election interference
Trump rejects hacking intel
President-elect
Donald Trump
speaks with
members of
the military
Saturday during
the Army-Navy
college football
game in Balti-
more. Andrew
Harnik/The
Associated
Press
Lawmakers vow
probe of claims of
Russian meddling
in US election
By Robert Burns
The Associated Press
QAYARA AIR BASE, Iraq —
Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition
forces have killed or gravely
wounded more than 2,000
Islamic State fighters in the
battle for Mosul since October,
the top U.S. commander in Iraq
said Sunday.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend
told reporters there are still an
estimated 3,000 to 5,000 IS
fighters defending Mosul. He
applauded the efforts of Iraqi
security forces, who began their
offensive on Oct. 17 in what has
been billed a decisive phase of
the anti-IS fight.
“By our calculations, we think
we have killed or badly wounded
over 2,000,” Townsend said at a
joint news conference with U.S.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter at
Qayara air base.
Iraqi security forces have
been slowed in their nearly two-
month-old offensive against IS,
which has occupied Mosul for
more than two years. US offi-
cials have declined to say how
many Iraqi government troops
have been killed in the Mosul
fight.
Recapturing the city, Iraq’s
second-largest, is crucial to the
Iraqis’ hopes of restoring their
sovereignty, although politi-
cal stability will likely remain a
challenge afterward.
Iraqi forces have only won
back a handful of eastern Mosul
neighborhoods since launching
the offensive in mid-October.
On Sunday they came under
mortar fire as they worked to
clear villages along the Tigris
River to the south, part of
operations to secure supply
lines for a campaign that is
likely to stretch into the coming
year.
Townsend disputed any sug-
gestion that the Islamic State
has managed to fight the Iraqi
government forces to standstill
in Mosul.
Iraq
US says
2,000 IS
fighters
killed
Turkey blasts claimed
by Kurdish militants
ISTANBUL — Turkey declared a
national day of mourning and paid
tribute to the dead Sunday after
two bombings in Istanbul killed 38
people and wounded 155 others
near a soccer stadium. A3
SEE trump, A6
SEE iraq, A6
Seminoles win
3rd straight
over Gators
Sports, C1