Junk Pilgrim Prepared For Storm, Operators Say

It would take at least 4 to 6 hours to bring about a orderly shutdown and cool down.

It would be so cool for the plant to trip today and LOOP? Would this be the last shutdown in the life Pilgrim plant. :)

None of this is based on real engineering, engineering assurance it could survive Blizzard. Although I believe Entergy is worried about if Gov Baker begins to turn on them. It is all a grand NRC experiment.  

 

Who cares if Entergy is going to permanently shutdown within a year. or so.

..."the Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman said Friday that procedures for addressing storms have been tightened since last year."

It is interesting the grid prices spiked up this early morning. Is it a result of normal winter condition approaching the coast or has the grid anticipated losing Pilgrim:)

 

Maybe Entergy wants the NRC to shutdown the plant...blame them for permanently shutdown the plant.   

NUCLEAR SAFETY

Pilgrim prepared for storm, operators say

The protocol has been tightened in the year since a blizzard-induced shutdown at the plant, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman says.

By Christine Legere

Posted Jan. 22, 2016 at 5:45 PM
Updated at 9:17 AM

PLYMOUTH — Operators at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station say they are ready for whatever the fast-traveling snowstorm heading up the East Coast this weekend, with accompanying 60 mph winds, brings their way.

“We are monitoring the storm closely and have begun preparations under our coastal storm protocol,” Entergy Corp., the plant’s owner-operator, said Friday in a statement provided by spokesman Patrick O’Brien.

One provision in the newly beefed-up storm plan calls for a pre-emptive shutdown based on the severity of the storm. “It has to do with wind speeds and the rate of snowfall,” Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, wrote in an email Friday.

Entergy is holding off on that decision for now. “The currently projected storm path and weather conditions do not meet the criteria for a pre-emptive shutdown of the station,” the company statement said. “We will continue to monitor the storm closely and have appropriate staff and other resources available should conditions change.”

The Pilgrim plant's 220-foot primary meteorological tower is still out of service, awaiting a part expected to be installed in February, according to Sheehan. The smaller backup tower will provide plant operators with vital information on wind velocity and direction.

That second tower had been inoperable for several years and was just recently replaced. The plant must rely on the National Weather Service in Taunton whenever a single tower goes down and lacks backup.

Representatives of the Plymouth Fire Department were at the nuclear plant earlier this week to review storm preparations, according to the town’s emergency management director, Aaron Wallace.

It has been just about a year since a blizzard tore through the Northeast, knocking out power at Pilgrim. Problems began with electrical arcing in the switchyard, where power is brought to the plant and sent from the plant to the grid. Such switchyard problems date back as long as 30 years.

Operators shut down the reactor during that January storm, but problems persisted, with the failure of a diesel-driven air compressor, a leaking safety valve used to depressurize the reactor, failure of a manually operated safety relief valve and failure of the high-pressure coolant injection system, which then leaked an inch of water onto the floor.

Sump pumps could not clear it, since all nonvital functions at the plant had been shut down.

The series of malfunctions during that storm prompted a week of federal inspections and contributed to the downgrade of the Pilgrim plant by NRC officials in September to among the three worst performers in the country.

Entergy announced in October its plan to permanently shut down the Pilgrim reactor sometime before June 2019.

Although some plant watchdogs warn there is no longer any impetus for Entergy to stay on top of plant maintenance, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman said Friday that procedures for addressing storms have been tightened since last year.

“We have a resident inspector at Pilgrim who is continuing to closely track storm preparations,” Sheehan wrote. “For instance, site walkdowns were conducted yesterday to check for any loose debris that could be tossed by strong winds and impact the switchyard or plant infrastructure.

“Also, a change put in place since last winter’s storms is the installation of heat lamps in the switchyard to prevent the kinds of electrical arcing events that have occurred in the past,” Sheehan continued. “We will be paying attention to the heat lamps’ effectiveness should they be needed during this storm.”

David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the switchyard is always vulnerable to winds and icing. “The backup generators are the real safety net,” he said. “If they work, they effectively cool the reactor. Because of the problems in the past, (Pilgrim operators) may be more prepared and have a longer list of backups.”