NRC Shifts Inspection Focus at Pilgrim Plant

COURTESY PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION

PLYMOUTH – Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth shut down its reactor at the end of May and now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is shifting the focus of its oversight of the facility.

The NRC will now conduct decommissioning power reactor inspection of the plant.

“Now it becomes more of a focus on the spent fuel pool, on de-energizing systems, draining systems, and preparing for moving the fuel into dry cask storage,” said Neil Sheehan, an NRC Spokesman.

Sheehan said the different set of activities at the plant will require new inspectors who are experts in those areas.

One of the early decommissioning activities at the plant was to move the fuel out of the reactor and into the spent fuel pool.

“They have safely accomplished that,” Sheehan said.

The NRC will continue to monitor the plant with a resident inspector and specialists who will be going to the site to look into decommissioning work.

“They will be keeping a close watch as they make that change,” Sheehan said.

Entergy currently remains the license holder for the facility. The company’s plan calls for long-term storage.

Entergy’s plan would put the plant into SAFSTOR, or long-term storage, with a 60 year decommissioning.

The NRC continues to review a license transfer for the plant which would complete a purchase and sale agreement between Entergy and Holtec.

If the sale is approved, Holtec’s expedited plan, or the DECON alternative, would have decommissioning completed by 2027.

“We would then adjust our inspection resources accordingly,” Sheehan said.

The transition at the plant since the shutdown of the reactor on May 31 has been moving forward smoothly.

“The company is well-positioned to begin doing this decommissioning work and we are going to continue to engage them on that as well as the Citizen’s Advisory Panel that is looking into this,” Sheehan said.

The NRC will maintain a presence at the facility as long as the plant holds a license.