ML16288A242

Region I Reply to Pilgrim Legislative Advisory Coalition (Plac) Members Regarding Their Request to Shut Down Pilgrim

ML16288A242
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	10/14/2016
From:	Arthur Burritt NRC/RGN-I/DRP/PB5
To:	Agnew D Pilgrim Legislative Advisory Coalition
Cline L
Shared Package
ML16243A281	List: ML16288A242
References
LTR-16-0434-1
Download: ML16288A242 (3)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I 2100 RENAISSANCE BLVD. KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406-2713 October 14, 2016 Mr. David Agnew Pilgrim Legislative Advisory Coalition P.O. Box 2712 Orleans MA 02653

Dear Mr. Agnew:

I am responding to your August 29, 2016, letter that requested that Pilgrim nuclear power plant be shut now down based on its recent operating performance. The NRC shares your concern regarding the safety impact of the degraded perform ance at Pilgrim. As you know, on Sept. 1, 2015, the NRC issued a "White" finding and Notice of Violation to Pilgrim because Entergy had not adequately addressed a significant equipment problem that caused a failure of one of the plant's safety relief valves in February 2013, and then caused a similar failure in January 2015. This issue combined with a failure to adequately address the causes of multiple reactor shutdowns at Pilgrim in 2013 were indications of degrading performance that moved the plant into Column 4 (the "Repetitive Degraded Cornerstone" Column) of the NRC Action Matrix. Based on our inspection and oversight program to date, we continue to conclude that Pilgrim is operating safely. While the issues that moved the plant into Column 4 were of low to moderate safety significance, the increased oversight, inspection, and assessment directed by the assessment process for a plant in Column 4 now allows us to closely monitor for indications of unacceptable performance. If at any time it is determined that performance at Pilgrim has declined to an unacceptable level, the NRC will not hesitate to take additional regulatory action, up to and including the issuance of a shutdown order. More information regarding the additional oversight activities at Pilgrim is available at the following website: http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/pilg/special-oversight.html. The site includes hyperlinks to inspection reports and assessment letters that document the results of inspection and assessment activities used to determine the need for additional regulatory action at Pilgrim. This includes our review and assessment of many of the examples of poor performance at Pilgrim that you listed in your lette

r. Items not as of yet listed in the website documentation (for example the Sept. 6 main steam line isolation valve failure) are still under inspector review. The results of the inspections for these issues will be documented in upcoming inspection reports and, as applicable, will be considered during our assessment of overall performance at the site.

D. Agnew I hope that this addresses your concerns regarding the NRC's actions in response to the recent degrading performance at Pilgrim. However, if you have any additional questions or concerns regarding these issues please feel free to contact Diane Screnci at 610-337-5330 or Neil Sheehan at 610-337-5331.

Sincerely,

/RA by Leonard Cline Acting for/

Arthur L. Burritt, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 5 Division of Reactor Projects D. Agnew I hope that this addresses your concerns regarding the NRC's actions in response to the recent degrading performance at Pilgrim. However, if you have any additional questions or concerns regarding these issues please feel free to contact Diane Screnci at 610-337-5330 or Neil Sheehan at 610-337-5331.

Sincerely,

/RA by Leonard Cline Acting for/

Arthur L. Burritt, Chief Reactor Projects Branch 5 Division of Reactor Projects

cc: Mrs. Janet Azarovitz Mr. Tom Azarovitz Mr. Herb Edwards Ms. Lillia Frantin Mr. James Garb MD Mr. Robert Holt

Mrs. Joan Holt

Ms. Robin Hubbard Ms. Olga Kahn Mr. John Nichols Ms. Irene Paine

Ms. Margaret Rice-Moir Ms. Ann Rosenkranz

Ms. Rosanne Shapiro Ms. Betsy Smith

DOCUMENT NAME: G:\DRP\BRANCH5\External Stakeholder Letter Responses\2016 Letters\PLAC response letter.docx ADAMS PACKAGE NUMBER: ML16243A281 ADAMS DOCUMENT ACCESSION NO: ML16288A242 SUNSI Review Non-Sensitive Sensitive Publicly Available Non-Publicly Available OFFICE RI/DRP RI/DRP NAME LCline/lc ABurritt/lc for DATE 10/14/16 10/14/16 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY