Pilgrim review draws support, criticism
DOES ANYONE NOTICE CHARLIE BAKER'S ABSENCE WITH A SERIOUS PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUE?
Pilgrim review draws support, criticism
Crowd at annual assessment divided over safety issues.
PLYMOUTH — The crowd at Tuesday night’s discussion of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s 2017 performance was divided between opponents and plant workers and supporters, with the latter turning out in larger numbers.
At times the back-and-forth got rowdy, with opposing speakers being shouted down and supporting speakers greeted with hoots and clapping.
The meeting started with a statement from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which hosted the meeting.
Pilgrim operators must do more than show progress and improvement, said David Lew, the commission’s deputy regional administrator. They need to demonstrate “sustainability.”
“You do that by ensuring that you address underlying issues that have been identified,” Lew told plant representatives.
The 45-year-old nuclear reactor remains in Column 4 in the matrix federal regulators use to measure performance. That status is one step above mandatory shutdown. Entergy Corp., the plant’s owner-operator, has announced it plans to shut the plant for good May 31, 2019.
Plant watchdogs remained critical of the Plymouth reactor. Some speakers referred to an email written by one of the commission’s own inspectors less than a month before 2017 began.
In it, Donald Jackson wrote, “We are observing current indications of a safety culture problem that a bunch of talking probably won’t fix” at Pilgrim.
Opponents who stepped to the mic to address representatives from the NRC and the Pilgrim plant argued that Jackson’s characterization continued to be true, with the Plymouth reactor amassing 15 violations of federal regulations during the 12-month period.
Mary Lampert, president of the citizens group Pilgrim Watch, cited two extensions the federal agency provided to Pilgrim during 2017 despite Pilgrim’s classification by federal regulators as one of the three worst performers in the country.
One extension allows Pilgrim to operate through its final 18 months without completing cyber protection requirements, and the other exempts the plant from installing a post-Fukushima “hardened” vent to help prevent an explosion during an accident.
“What is the takeaway?” Lampert asked. “NRC and Entergy’s leadership lack a commitment to emphasize safety over competing goals, such as profit or public relations, to ensure protection of the people and the environment.”
Speakers also raised concern over the myriad mechanical issues that already have occurred at the reactor in the first quarter of 2018.
Pilgrim is currently in its 22nd day of shutdown.
Leaks in a hot water system caused operators to take the reactor offline March 6. It has remained shut down while workers replace a start-up transformer, damaged by electrical arcing. The damage coincided with the March 13 blizzard, but NRC representatives said it may or may not be related to the storm.
Plant operators on Monday also reported the discovery of some incorrectly installed clamps on the hydraulic system designed to push the control rods into the reactor and halt nuclear fission during an emergency.
Pilgrim also was offline for six days in January after an emergency shutdown during a nor’easter.
“If I owned a car that had that many problems simultaneously, I’d take it off the road,” said South Dennis resident Susan Carpenter. “Every day the plant is allowed to operate, you, the NRC, are gambling with our lives.”
Erin Carfang, an NRC resident inspector at Pilgrim, said the recent identification of the clamp problem showed the staff was trying to be proactive by inspecting the systems.
Daniel Dove, a Pilgrim employee, spoke in support of the plant. “I believe in power plants: they’re safe,” he said. “If you think we go to work there with nothing but safety on our minds, you’re right.”
During the first half of 2017, the plant fell short in areas related to human performance and procedure adherence. While plant operators addressed those areas of concern, two new areas cropped up, this time related to evaluation and problem identification and resolution, according to the annual assessment letter the NRC wrote to plant managers.
A spokeswoman for Maura Healey cited the state attorney general’s concern that the reactor was not shut down during the March 2 blizzard, when the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency concluded at the height of the storm that downed wires and trees would prohibit evacuation of the 10-mile radius around Pilgrim.
Pilgrim has one of the worst safety records among the nation’s nuclear fleet, said Healey through her spokeswoman. “It requires more oversight, not less.”
Katie Woods, an engineering supervisor at the Pilgrim plant, said she was “impressed by the oversight and safety focus” there. “When Pilgrim retires next year, where will you go to replace the carbon-free energy?”
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