PLYMOUTH – The owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant will not be issued a violation for the actions of a former worker who didn’t follow proper procedure in 2017.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Entergy had already undertaken more widespread corrective measures company-wide for issues similar to what happened at the Plymouth plant.
“Entergy had a similar situation involving an operator at one of its plants in Mississippi and so they had put in place corrective actions across the fleet, including at Pilgrim,” said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan.
The non-licensed operator violated an Entergy procedure related to inspecting operating plant equipment.
During the investigation, the operator admitted to NRC regulators that he did not properly check a voltage reading as required.
That led to a failure of an NRC requirement pertaining to activities that impact plant equipment.
In its decision not to issue a violation to Entergy, the NRC cited a fleet-wide corrective action the company already took regarding willful misconduct.
“We’re satisfied that the company is taking it seriously, they’re taking steps to address this,” said Sheehan.
“And so we’re not imposing or taking an enforcement action against Pilgrim.”
Regulators said the overall safety of the plant was never in jeopardy as a result of the worker’s mistake.
“Integrity is a core value at both Pilgrim Station and across the Entergy fleet, and willful misconduct is not tolerated. This issue, which occurred in 2017, was identified by Entergy personnel and reported to the NRC. There was no consequence to safety as a result of this issue,” said Entergy spokesman Patrick O’Brien.
” The individual we identified no longer works for Entergy,” he said.
Similar issues had taken place at an Entergy-owned plant in Mississippi that resulted in an alternative dispute resolution agreement that was also applied in the Pilgrim case.
The Plymouth plant will be closing permanently at the end of May.
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