More bad news expected for Pilgrim power plant
PLYMOUTH — A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released Entergy Corp.'s required report Wednesday analyzing the reasons for the unplanned forced shutdown at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in October.
The incident involved a forced shutdown caused by the loss of two outside power sources when NStar had difficulties with a main transformer. According to plant owner Entergy's report, the transformer went down when a wooden pole buckled, taking out lines between a Carver substation and Pilgrim. Corrective measures included NStar's replacement of the defective pole as well as other wooden poles on the line.
Other corrective action included a revision of Pilgrim's procedures when off-site line outages are planned.
Pilgrim had been forced into a similar shutdown in February when off-site power was lost during a snowstorm.
Pilgrim just finished a tough year, with the NRC labeling it an underperforming plant in November and placing it among 22 out of 100 reactors in the nation that require more federal oversight.
And bad news is continuing into the new year.
Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the NRC, wrote in an email Wednesday that the commission "expects" Pilgrim's performance indicators to drop even lower based on the plant shutdowns, once fourth-quarter performance results from 2013 are analyzed.
That will place Pilgrim among the eight worst-performing reactors in the country.
Sheehan said federal officials should finish their fourth-quarter analysis and be ready to announce their decision on Pilgrim by the end of this month or early next month.
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