With the Republican Government shutdown, most NRC staff has been furloughed and no information is available about the power reduction....just speculation....guessing.
Pilgrim plant reduces its power output
PLYMOUTH — After a short stint of operating at peak level, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station was powered down substantially Wednesday for what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission described as "periodic routine maintenance."
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Wednesday evening he believed the plant reduced power output to below 50 percent while it flushed organic material off the water condensers for the reactor.
The process, called thermal back-washing, involves sending water in the opposite direction through condenser tubes to knock away debris collected against the metal plate at the intake opening, according to scientist Dave Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
"Pilgrim does this periodically," Lochbaum said in an email. "I've seen them in the past only reduce power to about 70 percent, but they can use the power reduction as an opportunity for other maintenance and/or tests which could lead to the power being reduced a little lower."
Carol Wightman, the spokeswoman for Entergy, the company that owns and operates the Pilgrim plant, declined to comment on the operation's current power level or when it would be returned to full power.
"Our policy is not to comment on the operating status of the plant, since we operate in a competitive market," Wrightman said.
While the NRC updates power levels for all 104 of the nation's reactors on its website daily, the site stopped being updated Wednesday night, a result of the federal government shutdown.
Sheehan was among the 3,600 of the NRC's 3,900-member staff to be furloughed Thursday, so he was no longer available for updates.
A message posted on the NRC's website said the site will not be updated until the shutdown ends.
Pilgrim had a tough summer for both power-downs and full shutdowns. During a heat wave in July, the plant was forced to reduce output by 15 to 25 percent for several days when seawater temperatures in Cape Cod Bay topped the 75 degrees allowed under the plant's federal license.
Pilgrim uses bay water to cool key systems.
Aug. 22 marked the start of a monthlong stint of shutdowns and partial power-downs. That day, a breaker tripped, cutting off power to three main water pumps, which forced an emergency shutdown of the reactor. After repairing some wires, the plant was restarted Aug. 26 but stayed at 75 percent power due to continuing problems in one of the main pumps.
Before that could be fixed, operators were again forced to shut down the reactor due to a leak in a steam line on Sept. 8 that kept the plant offline for about a week.
The plant wasn't restored to full service until Sept. 18.
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