ML16113A203

Terry Bassett Letter Regarding Safety Concerns at Pilgrim

ML16113A203
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	04/22/2016
From:	Leonard Cline NRC/RGN-I/DRP/PB5
To:	Bassett T - No Known Affiliation
Shared Package
ML16085A334	List: ML16113A203
References
LTR-16-0165-1
Download: ML16113A203 (3)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I 2100 RENAISSANCE BLVD.

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406-2713 April 22, 2016 Mr. Terry Bassett P.O. Box 499 South Chatham, MA 02659

Dear Mr. Bassett,

I am responding to your letter, postmarked March 7, 2016, regarding performance issues at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The NRC shares your concern regarding the safety impact of the degrading performance at Pilgrim and we have already begun to take action to address these concerns.

On September 1, 2015, we issued a White finding and Notice of Violation to Pilgrim because Entergy, which owns the plant, had not adequately addressed a significant equipment problem that caused a failure of one of the plants safety/relief valves in February 2013 and then caused a similar failure in January 2015. The NRC determined that this issue combined with the failure to correct the causes of multiple reactor shutdowns in 2013 were indications of degrading performance that required us to move the plant into Column 4 (the Repetitive Degraded Cornerstone Column) of the NRC Action Matrix.

The increased oversight, inspection, and assessment for a plant in Column 4 of the Action Matrix allows us to closely monitor for indications of unacceptable performance. If our inspections and assessment show that performance at Pilgrim has declined to an unacceptable level with respect to public safety, the NRC would not hesitate to take additional regulatory action up to and including the issuance of a shutdown order. However currently, based on the result of our additional monitoring, the NRC has determined that Pilgrim continues to operate safely and maintain the required safety margins. Additional information regarding NRC activities related to our oversight at Pilgrim can be found at on the NRC webpage at http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/pilg/special-oversight.html.

We hope that this addresses your concerns regarding the NRCs actions in response to the recent degrading performance at Pilgrim. Should you have any further questions, please contact the Region I Office of Public Affairs at 610-337-5330 or 610-337-5331.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Leonard M. Cline Senior Project Engineer

ML16113A203 Non-Sensitive Publicly Available SUNSI Review Sensitive Non-Publicly Available OFFICE RI/ORA RI/DRP NAME DScrenci/ lc for LCline/ lc DATE 4/22/16 4/22/16

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I 2100 RENAISSANCE BLVD.

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406-2713 April 22, 2016 Mr. Terry Bassett P.O. Box 499 South Chatham, MA 02659

Dear Mr. Bassett,

I am responding to your letter, postmarked March 7, 2016, regarding performance issues at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The NRC shares your concern regarding the safety impact of the degrading performance at Pilgrim and we have already begun to take action to address these concerns.

On September 1, 2015, we issued a White finding and Notice of Violation to Pilgrim because Entergy, which owns the plant, had not adequately addressed a significant equipment problem that caused a failure of one of the plants safety/relief valves in February 2013 and then caused a similar failure in January 2015. The NRC determined that this issue combined with the failure to correct the causes of multiple reactor shutdowns in 2013 were indications of degrading performance that required us to move the plant into Column 4 (the Repetitive Degraded Cornerstone Column) of the NRC Action Matrix.

The increased oversight, inspection, and assessment for a plant in Column 4 of the Action Matrix allows us to closely monitor for indications of unacceptable performance. If our inspections and assessment show that performance at Pilgrim has declined to an unacceptable level with respect to public safety, the NRC would not hesitate to take additional regulatory action up to and including the issuance of a shutdown order. However currently, based on the result of our additional monitoring, the NRC has determined that Pilgrim continues to operate safely and maintain the required safety margins. Additional information regarding NRC activities related to our oversight at Pilgrim can be found at on the NRC webpage at http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/pilg/special-oversight.html.

We hope that this addresses your concerns regarding the NRCs actions in response to the recent degrading performance at Pilgrim. Should you have any further questions, please contact the Region I Office of Public Affairs at 610-337-5330 or 610-337-5331.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Leonard M. Cline Senior Project Engineer

ML16113A203 Non-Sensitive Publicly Available SUNSI Review Sensitive Non-Publicly Available OFFICE RI/ORA RI/DRP NAME DScrenci/ lc for LCline/ lc DATE 4/22/16 4/22/16