U.S.
The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station returned to the grid Sunday, following a malfunction with the Massachusetts plant’s condenser system and operator Entergy’s decision to power the facility down ahead of winter storm Niko.
The 44-year-old facility, which is due to close in 2019, was reduced to 28 percent power on Feb. 7, after Entergy identified a leakage issue involving the plant’s condenser system.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is finalizing a special inspection related to the 2015 downgrade of the facility to Column 4 of the agency’s Action Matrix, the lowest safety rating for an operating nuclear plant. Pilgrim has experienced several unplanned shutdowns and operational issues dating to 2013.
“The plant remains committed to providing safe, clean power for the region until May 31, 2019,” spokesman Patrick O’Brien said in a statement Sunday.
The Vermont Public Service Board has released a public meeting schedule concerning Entergy’s sale of the shuttered Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.
Entergy in November agreed to sell Vermont Yankee, which closed in 2014, to New York-based decommissioning specialist NorthStar Group Services. The deal is expected to shorten the timeline to fully decommission the facility by decades. It must be approved by both the Public Service Board and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Public Service Board’s newly released schedule runs through October. The board has scheduled public meetings for March 13 (potentially March 14) and Sept. 5 (potentially Sept. 6). The board meets in the Susan M. Hudson Hearing Room on the third floor of the People’s United Bank Building, 112 State Street, Montpelier, Vt.
If the deal goes through, NorthStar would assume control of the plant’s estimated $600 million decommissioning trust fund. Entergy’s original post-shutdown decommissioning activities report (PSDAR) projected decontamination and dismantlement to start in 2068. NorthStar plans to start the work much sooner, potentially finishing the job in the 2030s.
The Environmental Protection Agency has yet to finalize a schedule for submitting the final soil cleanup remedy at the West Lake Landfill Superfund site in Missouri. The agency had initially planned to submit a final cleanup remedy by the end of 2016.
The EPA extended the schedule in December without offering a new date. West Lake, which contains waste from the former uranium production facility at Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis, is adjacent to the Bridgeton Landfill, where an underground fire has burned since 2010. Missouri residents and lawmakers have long criticized the EPA’s 25-year cleanup effort at the site, with many calling for Congress to replace the agency with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).
EPA spokesman Ben Washburn said by email this week that the agency has partnered with the Army Corps of Engineers in reviewing technical documents from West Lake’s potentially responsible parties (PRPs) related to the final remedy. The EPA has yet to receive feedback from the Corps on those technical documents.
Washburn said the agency has received draft submissions of the Remedial Investigation Addendum and Final Feasibility Study from the PRPs. The Remedial Investigation Addendum contains data on the nature and extent of radiologically impacted material at the site, contaminant fate, and transport baseline risk assessment. The Final Feasibility Study contains remedial alternatives to address the contamination. West Lake’s PRPs are Laidlaw Waste Systems (now known as Bridgeton Landfill LLC, a subsidiary of West Lake owner Republic Services), Rock Road Industries Inc., Cotter Corp., and the Department of Energy.
“EPA, in consultation with state and federal partners, is currently reviewing these documents and will issue a comment letter for each document to the PRPs when those reviews are complete,” Washburn said.
