COURTESY PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION
PLYMOUTH – The reactor at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth was shut down Thursday morning in advance of the blizzard.
Plant officials made the decision at 8 a.m. based on forecast and describe the approach as “conservative” and “preemptive.”
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says their Residential Inspectors will be on-site all day monitoring the shut down.
Pilgrim has been plagued by storm related unplanned shutdowns in recent years, including during the major January 2015 blizzard that battered the region. The station also shut down during a blizzard in February of 2013 after losing off-site power.
Those shutdowns played a large role in the station’s safety rating being downgraded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Federal inspectors just wrapped up an intensive three-week inspection at the station, which is considered one of the three worst performing reactors in the country by NRC standards.
Pilgrim is one step away from a federally-mandated shutdown.
Pilgrim had been operating at 30 percent power since Monday when a seawater leak was discovered in a condenser tube.
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