NRC boss: Pilgrim headed for trouble

Nov 9 - Christine Legere Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's top official toured the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on Friday and later told reporters the 41-year-old plant, plagued by mechanical problems, is headed for trouble with federal regulators unless it improves its performance.

When asked whether the NRC would ever close Pilgrim, Allison Macfarlane said the agency has the authority to shutter any plant for as long as it takes for the operation to turn around and run safely.

"We did that with Fort Calhoun in Nebraska, and it's been closed for two years," the commission chairman said. "Pilgrim is not in the worst shape yet, but it's headed that way, and we want to make sure they don't get there."

Macfarlane's visit was routine, but it came at the end of a tough week for Pilgrim.

On Monday, the NRC announced a performance rating drop for the Plymouth plant based on shutdowns with complications over the last several months. The downgrade placed Pilgrim among 22 reactors nationwide that will be more closely watched by federal regulators. Currently it leads the nation's 100 reactors in shutdowns this year.

Entergy Corp., Pilgrim's owner-operator, was informed by the NRC on Wednesday that the plant's standing is expected to fall even further at the close of the year's fourth quarter, based on its high number of unplanned shutdowns in general.

That further downgrade will place the Plymouth plant among the nation's eight worst performers.

Cape Cod Times video: NRC Chair Visits Pilgrim Nuclear

"Plant officials are aware of their situation, and we'll see if they can step up and address the issues," the Macfarlane said. "The proof will be in the pudding. If they continue to have problems, we will continue to increase oversight."

Macfarlane said the plant will be inspected more frequently based on its degraded status. Plant officials must also provide federal regulators with a plan for addressing the root cause of all its problems.

"They would also have to address equipment reliability problems," said William Dean, administrator for the NRC's Region I office in Pennsylvania. He accompanied Macfarlane on her tour.

Asked if the NRC gets involved with plant staffing, in light of eight layoffs announced this week, Macfarlane said the agency's only concern is that the plant remains adequately staffed to provide safety and security.

Following the session, Entergy spokesman James Sinclair expressed confidence that Pilgrim will show improvement.

"We're very comfortable," Sinclair said.

"We know where we are and have programs in place to turn things around."

Macfarlane also touched on storage of spent fuel rods, a subject of great concern to residents and officials in Plymouth and on the Cape.

Currently Pilgrim's spent fuel pool, located on the top of a building and containing more than 3,200 spent rods, is at capacity. Entergy has begun to construct casks to store some of the rods, but the number in the pools is not expected to drop below 3,000.

Based on an NRC task force report on lessons learned from the 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in Japan, the agency is considering "expedited transfer of the rods from pools to casks," Macfarlane said.

While the NRC maintains pools are as safe as casks, other scientific experts have challenged that position.

Macfarlane also met with local and state officials Friday. State Sen. Daniel Wolf, D-Harwich, said the NRC's top official acknowledged their concerns about reliability and maintenance issues at the aging plant, storage of radioactive fuel rods and lack of proper evacuation plans.

"My hope is they look at safety and security issues and respond to the concerns that officials and the public are having," Wolf said.

David Agnew, a Harwich resident and co-founder of the Cape Downwinders, said Macfarlane listened, but he and members of other anti-nuclear citizens groups did most of the talking during their session with the commissioner.

"I think it was information gathering," Agnew said. "We feel it was useful. The chairman seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say."

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