Pilgrim Plant Nears Improved NRC Safety Rating

By Chris Schneidmiller

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts could in March receive an improved safety rating from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, just a couple months before its scheduled permanent closure.

The Entergy boiling-water reactor plant on Cape Cod has since 2015 been in Column 4 of the NRC’s Action Matrix, multiple/repetitive degraded cornerstone — the lowest rank under which a nuclear power facility can remain operational. That followed a series of safety errors and unplanned shutdowns dating to 2013. Pilgrim is the only U.S. nuclear plant with this ranking.

Entergy has been working through a recovery plan certified in an Aug. 2, 2017, confirmatory action letter (CAL) from the regulator to the New Orleans-based power company. Agency officials last month wrapped up the last of five inspections to confirm that Pilgrim had met its commitments as laid out in the CAL – this one covering 40 specific items in the areas of nuclear safety culture and procedural use and adherence. They also studied overall performance at Pilgrim to confirm that the action plans had the intended safety results.

The December visit included discussions with 52 employees at Pilgrim in six focus groups and separate interviews with 79 other workers, along with reviews of Entergy recovery documents and observation of maintenance operations.

Among the improvements in nuclear safety culture laid out in the CAL: improve leadership performance, including through monthly review meetings; produce an employee handbook on nuclear excellence; bring in external mentors on observation standards to “coach the coaches”; and establish a nuclear safety culture advocate to monitor the issue.

The procedural use area covered a list of measures intended to ensure personnel at the plant “implement procedures and work instructions in a manner that demonstrates excellence in adherence and supports safe operation of the station,” according to the CAL. Directives there encompassed developing and distributing a guide on procedure use and adherence, and ensuring personnel are meeting expectations in those areas.

The NRC inspectors were satisfied with their findings and closed those 40 items, Anthony Dimitriadis, chief of Reactor Projects Branch 5 in the Division of Reactor Projects, wrote in a Jan. 23 letter to Brian Sullivan, Entergy site vice president at Pilgrim. The regulator has in five inspections determined that Pilgrim addressed the 156 improvement actions in 11 areas laid out in the CAL.

“The NRC staff is currently evaluating the sustainability of the Pilgrim Recovery Plan through baseline inspection samples and performance indicator results to determine whether sustained improvement has been demonstrated that warrants closure of the CAL and the plant transitioning out of Column 4,” spokesman Neil Sheehan said by email Monday. “The final determination regarding Pilgrim’s transition out of Column 4 will be made during the NRC’s Annual Assessment process, with the result communicated via our Annual Assessment letter, to be issued in March.”

This could lead to Pilgrim being transitioned to Column 1 of the Action Matrix, baseline inspection, alongside the vast majority of the nation’s nuclear power plants.

Entergy plans to close Pilgrim by May 31, after just shy of 47 years of operation. That will leave Massachusetts without any operational atomic energy facilities.

“With the closure of these items, we look forward to the NRC reviewing additional information and determining the sustainability of Pilgrim’s performance in conjunction with the 2018 NRC Pilgrim End-of-Cycle meeting expected in March,” Entergy spokesman Patrick O’Brien said by email. “The successful closure of CAL #5 is a testament to the commitment and hard work of the men and women of Pilgrim Station to improve performance through our planned shutdown in May 2019.”

Diane Turco, of the local watchdog group Cape Downwinders, said she found it “sort of suspect” that Pilgrim’s safety rating would be moved to the best possible grade given its past troubles. “All of the sudden Pilgrim’s at the top of their game? Really?” she said Thursday in a telephone interview.

Sheehan said returning a plant to Column 1 of the Action Matrix is part of the NRC’s process once the operator successfully passes through the review process.

Entergy has applied to the NRC to transfer Pilgrim’s operations and spent fuel storage licenses to energy technology specialist Holtec International. The New Jersey company would then assume ownership of the plant’s nuclear decommissioning fund and all responsibility for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management.

The NRC on Thursday published a Federal Register notice that gives stakeholders 20 days to file petitions for hearings and intervention in the licensing proceeding. Public comment on the matter would be accepted for 30 days.

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has already indicated it intends to request party status in the application, expressing concerns about funding for the cleanup program and about Holtec and one of its offshoots – Comprehensive Decommissioning International, a partnership with Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin that will conduct the actual decommissioning.

The NRC has said the technical review of the license transfer application should take nine to 12 months. Holtec and Entergy hope to close the deal by the end of the year.

Holtec says it can complete the full scope of cleanup at Pilgrim for $1.13 billion, down from Entergy’s prior estimate of $1.66 billion. The Pilgrim decommissioning trust held $1.05 billion at the end of October.

The company also says it can complete decommissioning by 2027, nearly six decades earlier than Entergy had planned. That involves moving quickly into decommissioning after the sale is sealed, eliminating the multidecade dormancy period previously scheduled.

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