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NRC may feel heat at Pilgrim's pending review
Activists plan to question oversight given plant safety record
- Entergy, which owns and operates Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, will meet with federal regulators this month to review safety and performance issues.
- By Christine Legere clegere@capecodonline.com
Posted Apr. 3, 2016 at 5:01 PM
PLYMOUTH — Annual meetings to discuss safety performance at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station with federal regulators and the public have historically placed plant operators on the hot seat, as they field questions and criticism related to forced shutdowns, equipment glitches and operator performance.
This year’s meeting, set for April 13, promises to be even more contentious than usual, based on Pilgrim’s record in the last year.
And it won’t just be Entergy, Pilgrim’s owner-operator, taking the heat, when it’s the public’s turn to comment.
Plant watchdogs have plenty to say to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“The NRC will hear natives grumbling about two basic problems: Entergy running the reactor on the cheap and ignoring fixes, and NRC inspection procedures that fail to find problems or label problems as having safety significance because it didn’t result in killing somebody” said Mary Lampert, of Duxbury, president of the citizens group Pilgrim Watch.
Since the 2015 annual meeting, the Plymouth reactor has been downgraded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to among the three worst in the nation, for frequent unplanned shutdowns and accompanying complications.
Its so-called “Column 4” status — one step above mandatory shutdown — has increased federal scrutiny, with three special inspections being added to the regular cycle. And it has elevated the level of public concern.
Watchdogs are expected to raise plant shortcomings, ranging from faulty relief valves and the longtime lack of a meteorological backup tower to track the direction of contamination during a radiological incident, to chronic electrical problems in the plant’s switchyard that have prompted operators to simply shut the reactor down during threatening weather.
shut down for good.”“We want to know why Pilgrim needs to shut down during severe storms,” said Harwich resident Diane Turco. “If there is an identified risk to the public like a failing switchyard, Pilgrim should be
In October, Entergy announced plans to permanently shutter Pilgrim sometime before mid-2019.
The company may shut it down sooner if it can settle commitments for power made to the New England grid.
Plant opponents have been calling for Pilgrim’s immediate shutdown, saying the aging plant, which has operated since 1972, has become unsafe.
Lampert pointed out federal regulators have not shuttered an unsafe reactor since 1987. “It's not that the NRC has not identified unsafe reactors since then, such as Pilgrim,” Lampert said. “It's that the NRC refuses to shut down unsafe reactors or even label an identified problem as serious. Close calls or near misses are ignored, increasing the probability of our luck running out.”
But NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said his agency has been diligent in its effort to oversee Pilgrim.
"The many thousands of hours we are devoting to oversight of Pilgrim reflects the high level of attention the plant is receiving from the NRC," Sheehan said. "We are committed to ensuring the plant continues to run safely for the remainder of its operational life."
"In 2015 Pilgrim Station continued to provide safe, reliable, and carbon-free power for the region," Entergy spokesman Patrick O'Brien wrote in an email about Pilgrim's status. "Unfortunately, due to poor power market conditions, reduced revenues and increased operational costs we had to announce that we would not operate past 2019. This was disappointing but our 600 workers, as nuclear professionals, maintain their focus on safe reliable operation of Pilgrim Station in 2016."
Federal regulators are expected to arrive at Pilgrim today to conduct the second in a series of three five-day special inspections.
The coming inspection will look at how well operators have addressed recent deficiencies.
After the first inspection conducted in January, federal inspectors issued a report that expressed concern over Pilgrim’s constant failure to follow through and address long-known deficiencies.
They cited a water leak in a system that cools the reactor after sudden shutdown. The leak had allowed air bubbles to enter the system, which could significantly impede water flow. Operators discovered the flaw after a blizzard in January 2015, yet they did not enter it into the plant’s action plan until a year later.
The federal report on the special inspection also noted the control room temperature could climb to 114 degrees Fahrenheit with a loss of normal ventilation and air conditioning, limiting the amount of time workers could effectively remain in the room and operate the controls.Inspection results from this week will not be part of the April 13 discussion.
The annual meeting is set for 7 to 9 p.m. in the grand ballroom at Hotel 1620 at Plymouth Harbor. The session will open with comments from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and responses from the management of the Pilgrim reactor. The public will then be allowed to offer questions and comments.
Speakers must sign up before the meeting. Those who plan to offer concerns or criticism of the operation of the nuclear plant will sign up on one sheet, and those who will speak in support of the plant or who are taking no position may sign up on another. Speakers will alternate between the two sheets and approach the microphone in order of sign-up.
Local law enforcement will conduct searches of all briefcases, purses, backpacks and equipment cases.
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