Staff from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be in Plymouth, Mass., on March 21 for a public meeting with utility Entergy on the findings of the agency’s special inspection and separate annual review of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
Entergy plans to close the facility on May 31, 2019, but a number of local organizations want shutdown to occur earlier. Locals will have an opportunity to address the NRC starting at 6 p.m. next Tuesday at Plymouth Memorial Hall, 83 Court St..
“We look forward to the opportunity to meet with Entergy and to provide the public with further details and results from our team inspection and our annual assessment of Pilgrim,” Region I Administrator Dan Dorman said in a press release Tuesday. “We remain committed to ensuring the plant continues to operate safely through the projected end of its operational life in 2019.”
The 44-year-old single-reactor facility has experienced multiple operational failures and unplanned shutdowns dating to 2013. The NRC in 2015 downgraded the facility to Category 4 of its Action Matrix, the lowest safety rating for an operating nuclear reactor. The regulator is preparing results from its third and final special inspection related to the 2015 downgrade, which will be discussed at next week’s meeting.
Also on the agenda is the NRC’s yearly review of safety at Pilgrim. Dorman said earlier this month in a post-assessment letter to Entergy that the plant would remain in Category 4.
In the press release, the NRC reaffirmed its findings to date that Pilgrim operates safely and that further regulatory measures are not needed at this point. The agency will issue a confirmatory action letter following its inspections, which will list steps Entergy must take to “demonstrate sustained performance improvement” and ultimately be removed from Column 4, the release says. The agency will then conduct additional inspections to ensure that Entergy has met the requirements cited in the letter.
