Pilgrim Returns to Service After Repairs

COURTESY PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION

PLYMOUTH – The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station has reconnected to the grid after equipment problems took it out of service last week.

Plant operators powered down the reactor last Friday after an issue was detected with two feedwater regulation valves.

Workers conducted repairs over the last week and returned the station to service Thursday morning.

“All of the issues we were tracking were satisfactorily addressed prior to restart,” said Nuclear Regulatory Commission Spokesman Neil Sheehan. “This included troubleshooting and repairs to feedwater regulating valves.”

As of early Friday morning, Pilgrim was operating at 76 percent power.

Pilgrim was put back into service less than three weeks ago after a 43-day maintenance outage. In March, crews discovered a leak in the feedwater heating system and took the station offline to fix the problem. After staying off the grid during two winter storms, operators had to delay the restart of the station due to faulty a start-up transformer.

The 46-year-old Plymouth facility has been plagued by equipment problems in recent years and is currently one step away from a federally-mandated closure after a series of unplanned shutdowns and safety violations.

Pilgrim is set to permanently close in mid-2019.

“Pilgrim Station remains focused on providing safe, reliable power to the grid throughout planned shutdown date of May 31, 2019,” Spokesman Patrick O’Brien said in a statement.