Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth Massachusetts is the same age and same design as Fukushima.
Pilgrim seeks exemption from post-closure emergency plans
By Christine Legere
Posted Jul 14, 2018
PLYMOUTH — The owner of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is looking to eliminate the 10-mile emergency planning zone around the reactor less than a year after it powers down for the final time, shrinking the radius under its protection to its property line.
Entergy Corp. plans to permanently shut down the Plymouth plant by June 1, 2019, after 46 years of operation.
The company submitted its request to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an exemption from the federal requirements to maintain an emergency planning zone beginning April 1, 2020, saying the requirements are expensive and unnecessary.
“Entergy currently provides in excess of $2.25 million to fund Emergency Management programs in the state and local communities,” said Joseph Lynch, senior government affairs manager for Entergy. “At least for the EPZ (emergency planning zone) communities, they will get the same level of funding for approximately one year after the plant is shut down.”
Plymouth, Kingston, Marshfield, Duxbury and Carver have sections falling within Pilgrim’s 10-mile radius.
In its letter to federal officials, Entergy states the company performed an analysis that shows 10 months after shutdown, the radioactive fuel rods in the spent fuel pool will have cooled sufficiently to significantly reduce the risk of a fire that could release radioactivity into the environment.
The pool will hold more than 3,000 spent fuel rods, tightly racked, once the reactor is defueled.
Trump memo on struggling power plants raises concerns
Directive to boost coal and nuclear operations comes as Pilgrim shutdown nears.
PLYMOUTH — Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station is now the worst-performing reactor in the country under the standards set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the only one out of the nation’s fleet of 99 to sit in Column 4 — one step above forced shutdown.
Citizens groups and state and federal legislators are counting on the Plymouth plant’s fast-approaching permanent shutdown date of June 1, 2019, remaining firm, but a memo from President Donald Trump to Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Friday has stirred up concern, since the president cites the need to keep coal and nuclear plants set for retirement online.
Entergy Corp., Pilgrim’s owner-operator, has been known to reverse its plans for shutdown before. Management had been working toward shutting down its Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant in New York but instead sold it to Exelon Corp. in 2017.
Fitzpatrick has a federal license that expires in 2034.
Read previous stories about the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station: capecodtimes.com/pilgrim.
Pilgrim’s federal license runs until 2032, if anyone is interested in keeping the reactor online, but Entergy announced in 2015 the Plymouth plant would shut down permanently in 2019 because it was a financial loser.
Asked whether Entergy might change its mind, spokesman Patrick O’Brien said the company had no comment on the president’s memo.
Mary Lampert, president of Pilgrim Watch, makes no assumptions when it comes to Pilgrim. “I’ve always said I’m not going to order a case of Champagne yet to celebrate May 31, 2019.”
In his memo, Trump directs Perry to take “immediate steps” to bolster struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants to keep them open, calling it a matter of national and economic security.
Impending retirements of coal-fired and nuclear power plants are harming the nation’s electric grid and reducing its resilience, and the president wants immediate action “to stop the loss of these resources,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Friday.
The directive comes as the Trump administration considers a plan to order grid operators to buy electricity from coal and nuclear plants to keep them open for two years to ensure grid reliability, “promote the national defense and maximize domestic energy supplies.”
U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., said there is no final plan yet, but the fact that measures to subsidize coal and nuclear industries are being discussed is concerning. “President Trump’s intention is to prevent the retirement of plants like Pilgrim,” Keating said in a written statement. “This is a terrible idea. Plants like Pilgrim do not need bailouts; they need to be decommissioned safely and swiftly.”
State Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, has historically been a strong voice calling for Pilgrim’s shutdown.
“With the Trump administration, you never know from moment to moment what they are thinking,” Peake said Monday. “I think it’s time to shutter this antique plant that’s been limping along marginally working and has the lowest rating.”
Pilgrim had been among the three lowest-ranked nuclear reactors in the country, but the NRC recently upgraded the two other plants, both in Arkansas, leaving Pilgrim alone in Category 4.
Mike Jacobs, senior energy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, issued a statement saying the Federal Power Act, aimed at ensuring a reliable power supply after sudden emergencies, “is not meant to insulate uneconomic power plants from market forces.”
Jacobs said it abuses the authority the act provides.
“The Trump administration is trying, once again, to fleece ratepayers by giving coal and nuclear power plants billions of dollars in guaranteed profits,” Jacobs said in his statement.
Not everyone opposes a plan to give the nuclear industry a financial lift.
“Once a nuclear power plant closes, it begins decommissioning and will not be reopened,” Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobbying organization for the nuclear industry, said in a written statement. “This finality is why it is critically important to preserve the fuel security offered by nuclear plants under threat of premature closure. This fuel security is an essential element of national security.”
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., called on the Trump administration to stop bailing out coal and nuclear plants. “When he isn’t rolling back fuel economy standards at the behest of oil companies, President Trump is trying to bail out coal and nuclear power plants that can’t turn a profit,” Markey said in a statement issued Friday.
And a spokeswoman for state Attorney General Maura Healey said, “Our office has consistently argued that any ratepayer-funded bailout of aging and uneconomic power plants would be illegal and unjustified. Earlier this year, (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) agreed with our office and our partner states in finding that the industry’s dissatisfaction with its declining profits does not constitute an emergency.
“We will continue to work to protect customers from the costs and public health risks associated with an unwarranted bailout, while also working to protect the important investments we’ve made in a clean energy economy,” spokeswoman Chloe Gotsis said via email.
After its annual capacity auction in February, ISO-New England said there were sufficient resources to meet regional demands for power through May 31, 2022. The not-for-profit organization oversees the transmission of electricity in New England.
ISO-New England predicted in a study done in January that there could be power shortages in 2024 and 2025 in extreme weather because of current limitations of pipeline capacity and difficulties in importing liquefied natural gas. That factored out new sources of electricity coming online.
David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Program for the Union of Concerned Scientists, thinks it is unlikely Pilgrim will remain operational.
“I have a better chance of winning the lottery than Pilgrim operating past June 2019, and I don’t even buy lottery tickets,” Lochbaum said.
It would just be too costly, Lochbaum said. “The NRC agreed to delay many safety and security upgrades at Pilgrim due to its pending retirement,” he said. “If Entergy or a subsequent owner reneges on the planned shutdown, the NRC will renege on the waiver of these upgrades.”
— Material from The Associated Press was used in this report. Follow Christine Legere on Twitter: @ChrisLegereCCT.
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