The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday began its second round of inspections at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station associated with increased oversight at the Massachusetts plant.
The commission downgraded Pilgrim’s safety rating in September after a series of unplanned shutdowns and safety relief valve issues, moving the plant into Column 4 of the NRC Action Matrix, which is the lowest rating a plant can have while in operation. After conducting the first of three inspections in January, NRC concluded in early March that the plant is operating safely.
This week’s inspection, termed Phase B, focused on “additional attention on the corrective action program but with emphasis on its effectiveness more recently, specifically since the plant began undergoing increased scrutiny last summer,” according to NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan, who issued a blog post on the inspection Monday.
Sheehan said by telephone Friday that the inspection had gone as planned throughout the week, and there were no significant issues identified by noon. Once the inspection is complete, which was expected to happen Friday afternoon, NRC will submit preliminary findings to plant owner Entergy. At that point, NRC has 45 days to issue a final inspection report.
Sheehan wrote that the third, “most comprehensive” phase will take place later this year or in early 2017.
“It will zero in on areas that will include human performance, equipment reliability and the quality of plant procedures, as well as the site’s safety culture, or the willingness of employees to freely and openly raise safety concerns,” Sheehan wrote in his blog post. “The corrective action program will also receive another look.”
The NRC has scheduled a public information meeting for April 13 in Plymouth.
Entergy has said it plans to close Pilgrim no later than 2019. The company closed its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in 2014 and intends to shutter its FitzPatrick facility in upstate New York this year or in early 2017.
