COURTESY PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION
PLYMOUTH – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has released the results of their inspection at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth which took place over the summer.
The report shows that NRC inspectors discovered two new “Green” violations at the plant. The first involved the temperature for Pilgrim’s two condensate storage tanks, and the second dealt with an alarm on the plant’s emergency diesel generator.
According to the NRC “Green” is the category ascribed to violations of very low safety significance.
“This is a once every three years inspection,” explained NRC Spokesman Neil Sheehan, “We go in and we take a very close look at very specific structures or components.”
Entergy, Pilgrim’s parent company has 30 days to dispute the report.
At their inspection a year ago, Pilgrim was cited for five Green violations, one severity Level IV violation, and one additional violation identified by Entergy.
“This is not an issue that is of a media concern,” said Sheehan, “this is an issue that we believe this is on their radar screen and we will be following up to make sure that they have taken care of it.”
Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors were at the plant last week, administering requalification exams for reactor operators, who are licensed by the NRC, with both written and hands on examinations. The task is required for operators every two years and is unrelated to this summer’s inspection.
The examinations were administered by a team of three inspectors, along with Donald Jackson, the chief of operations for the NRC’s northeast region.
Jackson previously wrote an internal e-mail claiming that Pilgrim employees were “overwhelmed just trying to run the station.”
The comments came last winter after Jackson led a team of more than a dozen inspectors on a thorough, three week long evaluation of the facility.
Pilgrim is one of three reactors in the nation to be under the NRC’s highest level of oversight for several unplanned shutdowns and safety violations.
By DAVID BEATTY, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
