Dueling views on Pilgrim performance and safety
Legislators seek shutdown in certain weather conditions
By Christine Legere
Posted Jun. 6, 2015
BOSTON — A pair of dueling missives went out this week on issues related to performance at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and the safety of the region surrounding the Plymouth plant.
In one, Entergy Corp, the plant owner-operator, exercised its right to dispute recent federal findings that the plant underperformed during January's blizzard.
In a second letter, Cape legislators asked that the nuclear reactor be required to shut down whenever weather would make evacuation of the region difficult.
The Pilgrim plant was forced to shut down in January after losing offsite power during a blizzard. Several glitches in operation systems occurred after the shutdown, which prompted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to send in a team of inspectors.
Entergy has asked for a conference with the commission to discuss its 68-page inspection report.
"Pilgrim will provide the NRC with our insights, perspective and additional information on the risk significance of the safety relief valve issues identified in the report," Entergy spokeswoman Lauren Burm wrote.
The safety relief valves are used to reduce reactor pressure during the cool-down process. One of four failed to open during the January blizzard. Inspectors said plant operators could have prevented the situation if they had addressed a valve problem that dated back to a shutdown during a February 2013 storm.
Entergy takes the inspection results seriously, Burm wrote.
"The issues raised in the report have all been addressed in the four months since the special inspection team visited the plant," she wrote.
If the NRC report is finalized with no changes, it would result in even tighter oversight of the Plymouth plant, which ranks among the bottom five nationwide based on federal performance standards.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Daniel Wolf, D-Harwich, and state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, have written to the state director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, asking that his agency institute a policy that would require the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to shut down during serious weather events.
"The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency's crucial responsibility is to create and execute emergency plans, including evacuation, in the event of a crisis at Pilgrim," Wolf and Peake wrote to Kurt Schwartz. "There is consensus that such evacuation plans could not be implemented during serious storm events, including even moderate snowfalls." The plant should therefore be taken offline whenever a "meteorological event makes evacuation unfeasible or impossible," they wrote.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has the authority to carry out the policy since it is the state's right and obligation to protect the safety of its residents, the letter says.
Wolf and Peake added that the shutdown directive would not eliminate the dangers posed by the spent fuel pool should there be a reactor malfunction, but it would at least ensure the reactor would be "in the most stable condition possible, which is a significant safety benefit."
RELATED CONTENT
http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20150606/NEWS/150609613
No comments:
Post a Comment