Junk And Dead Ender Pilgrim: The Fire Chief Says It's A Cover-Up

(fixed it up a bit on Dec 21)

I talked to the lead NRC inspector about this. The daily or event abnormal leakage rate is not a NRC regulation. It is a local fire regulation. The NRC wants to know every time Pilgrim sends a notification to the town or state agency. So it’s an agreement when Pilgrim make a notification to an agency they file a event report to the NRC. Seems a leak occurred over 24 hours as normal seal leakage, so no big deal. The NRC seems to believe it is normal leakage with the seals. I wonder if they just forgot to depressurize the generator for shutdown ops.  I pressurized and depressurized VY generator many times.

I think it should go like this. Out of a hundred forged signatures on a work document by your boss, twenty will end up being unsafe and will lend to rework. The gold standard of the industry when you sign off on a document, you thoroughly understand what you are signing.  

Junk Plant Pilgrim: Forged Signature On Safety Document Not A NRC Violation

Based on the evidence gathered during the OI investigation, the NRC concluded that, although the planning manager forged the names of Operations and Work Control personnel on the forms, this action did not result in a violation of NRC requirements. Specifically, the NRC determined that the work scope changes did not involve or potentially affect the performance of safety-related equipment; and that the planning manager’s actions did not cause the licensee to improperly perform unplanned work, remove required work from the schedule, or fail to perform a required risk evaluation.

The NRC is not punishing people at a high enough level for submitting accurate and falsified documents. Their knees should be shaking when signing the document worrying the document is incomplete and not fully accurate. You get it, risk perspective lends you to the idea forging sigs is safe. You look at it on the component level, on this particular event, was anything unsafe? The NRC doesn't even give us a cue with what work was being done. We all know this is extremely dangerous if this occurs by many people and over many work orders. The only way you would see how dangerous it is in a big accident. The after event report on it. It might take a accident to discover the extent of the corruption. This is why everyone should be fired for knowing about forged sig or inaccurate documents. Period. It sounds like they didn't have enough people working in this department.  

Fire chief: Entergy fails to notify of hydrogen release, files false report

PLYMOUTH - There's not telling someone what's going on when you're supposed to, and then there's claiming you did something when you didn't.

By Emily Clark
eclark@wickedlocal.com

PLYMOUTH – There’s not telling someone what’s going on when you’re supposed to, and then there’s claiming you did something when you didn’t.

This week, Fire Chief Ed Bradley said Entergy Corp., which owns and operates the Pilgrim Station Nuclear Power Plant, not only didn’t notify the Fire Department of a hydrogen release at the plant as it is required to do, but the company filed a false report on the matter.

Entergy’s report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission states, “At 1739 (EDT) on Friday, September 9, 2016 the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Plymouth Massachusetts Fire Department were notified of a hydrogen release in accordance with plant procedures and 310CMR 40.300.”

But Bradley said this is false. Not only was his department not notified of the event Friday, Sept. 9, as the report states, he only learned of the incident when a reporter from the Cape Cod Times contacted him about it Monday, Sept. 12, three days later.

Bradley said he had to call Entergy to find out what was going on.

“I will get calls from media asking if I know about something going on at the plant, then I have to call down to Pilgrim to find out what’s going on,” Bradley said. “These are issues that I’m supposed to be notified of by agreement and by procedure. We’ve had three instances of this in the last couple of months.”

Entergy released this statement in response:

"Pilgrim Station reported a hydrogen release above our allowable limits on September 9 to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the NRC. Our practice of also making a notification to the Plymouth Fire Department did not occur, due to an internal misunderstanding. As a result, a Pilgrim station report to the NRC incorrectly stated that the Plymouth Fire Department had been informed on September 9. This error was not discovered until September 12. The station discussed the matter with the Plymouth Fire Department on September 12 and then corrected its report to the NRC to reflect the appropriate date.

"We have entered the error into our corrective action program and are working to revise procedures to ensure prompt notification of Plymouth Fire is made in the future.”

Ranked by the NRC as one of the three worst performing nuclear power plants in the country, the plant has had to be shut down repeatedly in the last few weeks.

The latest shutdown occurred Tuesday, after the plant was powered up to 9 percent power. This time, a problem with the plant’s turbine turning gear was to blame.

But prior to this latest shutdown, a leak of 2,680 cubic feet of hydrogen gas occurred last Friday, Sept. 9, in the turbine room, while the plant was shut down. The release meets the requirements for notification of state and local entities. Entergy issued this statement on the release:

“Hydrogen releases are a normal part of thermal-electrical power plants, including nuclear plants. The daily release limit for Pilgrim Station, according to state regulation, is 1,900 cubic feet. On Friday, September 9th, with the plant still offline, Pilgrim notified the state that the hydrogen release for the day was 2,600 cubic feet, which is above the state limit. At no time was the safety of the plant or public challenged. While this is an infrequent occurrence, it does not meet our standards and a prompt investigation is underway to determine the cause and to preclude recurrence.”

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan noted that this type of hydrogen venting is not uncommon when a plant is in a shutdown condition.

“We’ve said before that the concentrations were sufficiently low that there was no risk of explosion or harm to workers or the public,” Sheehan said.

He had this to add regarding Entergy’s failure to notify the Fire Department: “In terms of notifications of offsite emergency responders, it’s an important matter.”

Important seems like an understatement for Bradley, who said the situation has gone beyond just miscommunication.

“You do that on an official report as a police officer and firefighter and you could lose your job for that,” Bradley said of the false report. “It’s disturbing to me if it’s an accident and someone missed something. That’s one thing. But when you’re not getting told, it worries you because you’re wondering why. You don’t want to say the word ‘coverup.’ But not calling when they should be and making out faulty reports – that erodes your confidence.”

Entergy’s report to the NRC was amended with an update Sept. 14 stating “The Plymouth Massachusetts Fire Department was notified on Monday, September 12, 2016 at 1411 EDT. This clarifies information applicable to the local notification as identified in the original notification."

But according to Bradley, Entergy didn’t notify him of the incident Monday as the amendment in the report states. Bradley said it was he who had to contact Entergy Monday at 2:11 p.m. about the hydrogen release after learning about it from a reporter. Entergy merely confirmed that what he had heard was true.

So what happens now? Will Entergy face fines or penalties for the false report? Sheehan said the NRC is looking into it.

“Enforcement action is always a possibility,” Sheehan said. “We’ve made it clear in recent years that Entergy needs to do a better job of communicating with the community what is going on at the plant.”

For decades, the Fire Department has been notified of events at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, such as hydrogen releases, malfunctions and mechanical failures, according to Bradley.

But things have changed.

“I don’t know why information isn’t coming over right away,” Bradley said. “I get a call from a reporter from the Cape Cod Times and they say, ‘I have this information’ and I say, ‘Wait a minute I have to get back to you.’ Then I find out it’s true.”

Pilgrim Station Nuclear Power Plant was shut down for four days in August due to a malfunctioning steam isolations valve, which prevents radioactive leaks during a nuclear accident. It’s the same problem the plant had with the valve system in August of 2015.

Then, 10 days ago, the plant was shut down again when water levels in the reactor pressure vessel fluctuated unexpectedly. The source of the problem appeared to be a malfunction in the feedwater regulating valve that pumps water into the vessel to be converted to steam, according to the NRC, which stressed that the issue did not jeopardize the health and safety of the public, or plant employees.

The current shutdown, after the brief power-up Tuesday, is the latest. And, once again, the NRC is reassuring the public that there is no danger or threat to the public.

But it’s a communication shutdown that has the fire chief concerned.

Follow Emily Clark on Twitter @emilyOCM.