Press Release-I-19-004, NRC to Hold Public Meeting to Discuss 2018 Performance of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

Press Release-I-19-004: NRC to Hold Public Meeting to Discuss 2018 Performance of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

ML19078A327
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	03/19/2019
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region I
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-I-19-004
Download: ML19078A327 (1)

Text

No: I-19-004 March 19, 2019

Contact:

Diane Screnci, 610-337-5330 Neil Sheehan, 610-337-5331 NRC to Hold Public Meeting to Discuss 2018 Performance of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will discuss the 2018 safety performance of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant, operated by Entergy Nuclear, during a public meeting on March 26 in Plymouth, Mass.

The meeting, to be held in the Regency Ballroom at the Hotel 1620 Plymouth Harbor, 180 Water Street, will begin at 6 p.m. NRC staff responsible for plant inspections, including the resident inspectors based full-time at the site, will be available to discuss its performance.

Pilgrim was in Column 4 (repetitive degraded cornerstone) of the NRCs Action Matrix and, therefore, was under heightened oversight from 2015 through 2018. In a March 4, 2019, letter documenting the NRCs overall assessment of Pilgrims performance, the staff noted that the plant has demonstrated sustained improvement throughout 2018, and that Entergy had addressed all of the issues that led to its placement in Column 4. These actions allowed the NRC to move the plant to Column 1, or a normal level of oversight.

The change was based on detailed inspections performed by the NRC from the fourth quarter of 2017 through the final quarter of 2018, as well as routine daily inspections. The inspections that led the agency to conclude areas in need of attention were addressed, which led to sustained safety performance improvement at the plant. In addition, at the end of the year, all inspection findings and performance indicators were of very low safety significance. As a result, Pilgrim is under the NRCs normal level of oversight, which entails thousands of hours of inspection each year.

The annual assessment letter for Pilgrim, as well as the meeting notice, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information is also available.