Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Experiences Unplanned Shutdown During Storm

COURTESY PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION

PLYMOUTH – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station had an unplanned manual shutdown Monday afternoon.

One of the two lines that provide power to the Plymouth facility became unavailable, leading operators to shut down the reactor.

The NRC says their on-site inspectors monitored the situation and will be working with plant-owner Entergy whenever they plan to resume normal operations.

In a statement, Pilgrim spokesperson Patrick O’Brien said the plant has operated safely this year.

“Pilgrim Station was manually removed from service, in accordance with station procedure, at 2:09 pm  on January 4, 2018 due to the loss of one of the two off-site lines that allow Pilgrim to feed power to the grid. We are working to determine the cause of the line loss,” O’Brien said.

“Pilgrim had been safely operating for 227 consecutive days following the completion of our most recent refueling outage in May 2017.  We will take this opportunity to conduct preventive maintenance that we could not otherwise perform with the plant operating at full power,” O’Brien added.

This is not the first unplanned shutdown Pilgrim has had during winter storms in recent years. The station is under the highest level of federal oversight after a series of similar incidents and safety violations.

It is one of the three-worst performing nuclear reactors in the country and is one step away from a federally-mandated shutdown.

Pilgrim is scheduled to close in 2019.

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