Despite continuing calls to shutter the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission maintains the Massachusetts plant is “operating safely.”
The NRC restated its position in an Oct. 5 letter to a cooperative of residents from Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, who on Aug. 21 demanded the regulator close the beleaguered facility, which owner Entergy plans to shut down by June 2019.
The NRC in 2015 moved Pilgrim to Column 4 of its Action Matrix, which is the lowest safety rating a nuclear facility can have while remaining in operation. The decision followed multiple safety relief valve issues and unplanned shutdowns at the plant in 2013 and 2015. Pilgrim most recently unexpectedly shut down in September, when complications with a fluctuating feedwater regulating valve led to excessive water levels in the plant’s reactor vessel.
The NRC has conducted two of three increased oversight inspection at the plant, resulting from the safety downgrade, and continues to support operation of the Massachusetts facility. The third and most comprehensive inspection is scheduled to begin in November.
“Based on our inspection and oversight program to date, we continue to conclude that Pilgrim is operating safely,” the agency’s Oct. 5 letter to the Cape Downwinders Cooperative reads. “While the issues that moved the plant into Column 4 were of low to moderate safety significance, the increased oversight, inspection, and assessment directed by the assessment process for a plant in Column 4 now allows us to closely monitor for indications of unacceptable performance. If at any time it is determined that performance at Pilgrim has declined to an unacceptable level, the NRC will not hesitate to take additional regulatory action, up to and including the issuance of a shutdown order.”
