Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

"Elevated levels of the radioactive isotope tritium have been detected in one of the new groundwater monitoring wells at Pilgrim Station Nuclear Power Plant. The release, issued Thursday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of test results taken from a sample of one of the 12 monitoring wells by Pilgrim staff June 21, states that the level falls within federal drinking water limits and does not require public notification but the information is being released because it's an issue of public interest. Six of the 12 monitoring wells were added in May. The monitoring well where the tritium was detected at 11,072 picocuries per liter is located near the condensate storage tank that stores water for use in the nuclear reactor. The Environmental Protection Agency's safe drinking water limit for tritium is 20,000 picocuries per liter."

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and the Pilgrim Watch citizen's group are both appealing a decision by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) to close relicensing proceedings on the Pilgrim Station nuclear plant. Tuesday morning, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan provided staff responses to both appeals filed in opposition to the relicensing.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Thursday that an NRC licensing panel has ruled in favor of Entergy Nuclear Operations and dismissed the Pilgrim Watch citizen's group's contention that the aging management plan for the buried pipes and tanks that contain radioactively contaminated water at the Pilgrim Station Nuclear Power Plant is inadequate. The initial decision will become final by Tuesday, Dec. 9., pending an appeal to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board by Pilgrim Watch or any other party. An appeal must be filed within 15 days.

Coakley seeks debate on Pilgrim license renewal State Attorney General Martha Coakley is asking a federal court to force nuclear energy regulators to consider risks to public safety caused by storing nuclear waste at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant before deciding whether to extend the facility's license for 20 years. Coakley joined with officials from New York and Connecticut to file suit in a federal appeals court in New York. The lawsuit asks the court to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to open debate on license extensions for plants such as Pilgrim to the potential threat posed by terrorists and accidents to used nuclear fuel stored inside the plants.

"The Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth could be leaking radioactive substances and should be required to perform more extensive testing to monitor the situation, Gov. Deval Patrick said. In a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Patrick also calls for a stay on further consideration of relicensing the plant or approving a proposed spin-off of the plant by its owner, Entergy Corp. Patrick is the most recent New England governor to ask the federal commission to take action against a local plant. Buried piping at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant - also owned by Entergy Corp. - has been leaking radioactive tritium that state health officials said Wednesday has reached the Connecticut River. Governors in Vermont and New Hampshire have called for an investigation by the NRC. But the difference between the Yankee and Pilgrim plants is that officials at the Vermont facility agree there's a leak. Their monitoring wells detected tritium levels that exceed federal standards for drinking water."

In a reminder that the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth remains a potential target of a terrorist attack, the Coast Guard has announced a change in its regulations for the ocean security zone surrounding the shoreline plant. First established eight years ago, the security zone is designed to prevent sabotage and terrorist attacks because of the potentially catastrophic impact an attack would have on the plant, according to the Coast Guard's notice of intent filed on Oct 2.

In a reminder that the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth remains a potential target of a terrorist attack, the Coast Guard has announced a change in its regulations for the ocean security zone surrounding the shoreline plant. First established eight years ago, the security zone is designed to prevent sabotage and terrorist attacks because of the potentially catastrophic impact an attack would have on the plant, according to the Coast Guard's notice of intent filed on Oct 2.

A nuclear watchdog group has appealed a ruling by federal regulators that clears the way for a 20-year extension of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant's operating license. The appeal, filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by Pilgrim Watch president Mary Lampert, argues that a three-member panel misinterpreted legal precedents when it ruled last month that the Plymouth plant's management plan adequately protects against potential radioactive leaks.

A shipment of lead-lined shielding from the Pilgrim Nuclear plant to its sister reactor, Vermont Yankee, this weekend had higher-than-reported radiation readings and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it was looking into the matter. The large box of lead shielding arrived at the Vermont reactor Friday night from Pilgrim, and when it arrived the radiation measured on the box was two to three times what was measured at Pilgrim, a plant located south of Boston.

Attorney General Martha Coakley and her counterparts in New York and Connecticut are appealing a Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision that could impact the relicensing of Pilgrim Station Nuclear Power Plant. Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut officials have filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York challenging the NRC's ruling that there was no "new and significant information" on the risks of severe accidents in the spent fuel pools at nuclear plants, including Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee, caused by terrorist attack, human error, equipment malfunction, or natural disaster. In 2006, Massachusetts filed a petition claiming that new and significant information on these risks to Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee, both owned by Entergy Nuclear Operations, and should be part of the relicensing process for each nuclear power plant.

In a Dec. 2 document filed with the commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Massachusetts Attorney General has accused the NRC of violating the National Environmental Policy Act because it is trying to exempt the Pilgrim nuclear power station in Plymouth, Mass., from compliance with spent fuel pool requirements that might eventually be mandated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. On Oct. 30, the ASLB issued an initial decision to approve the relicensing application for Pilgrim. On Nov. 24 it also issued a "partial initial decision" approving an application for Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon.

A local anti-nuclear activist has criticized a decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny a petition by state Attorney General Martha Coakley's office that could have affected the re-licensing of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth. "We deserve an airing of the issues to ensure the environment of public health and safety to be protected," said Duxbury resident May Lampert. "It doesn't make the agency credible if people think these issues don't have a fair hearing."

Entergy Corp. has received approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to spin off its Pilgrim nuclear power plant and four other plants. The agency's approval of the license transfer for the power plants took effect on Monday. The plants would be owned by a new public company, Enexus Energy Corp., and operated by a new joint venture known as EquaGen Nuclear LLC and owned by Enexus and Entergy.

The operator of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant has asked federal regulators for a six-month extension for an approval to spin off the Plymouth plant and four other power plants into a new company. Michael Kansler, the president of plant owner Entergy Corp.'s nuclear division, wrote a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this month, asking the agency for a six-month extension of the spinoff's approval from July 28 to next January. The agency approved Entergy's spinoff last July, but that approval is only effective for one year. Kansler, in his May 15 letter, said the company is still trying to get the approvals it needs for the spinoff from state regulators in New York and Vermont. Kansler said the company is actively engaged in settlement negotiations with the New York Public Service Commission, and company officials are optimistic that the Vermont Public Service Board will grant an approval as well.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors are determining why a shipment of lead shielding from Pilgrim nuclear station in Plymouth, Mass., to Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon exceeded radiation levels established by the federal Department of Transportation. The lead shielding is used to protect workers during refueling outages. "It's not uncommon for plants to share equipment during refueling outages," said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the NRC. Both Pilgrim and Yankee are owned by Entergy.

In the Matter of: Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Entergy Nuclear Generation Company (Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station); Order Approving Indirect Transfer of Facility Operating License

A defective alarm switch and a leaky seal on a water pipe caused the back-up containment system at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth to be declared inoperable for about an hour on Tuesday morning. A defective seal on the water pipe was allowing air to escape from the reactor building. While an alarm is supposed to respond in these situations, the alarm did not work. The defect was discovered during an engineering check of the plant.

A defective alarm switch and a leaky seal on a water pipe caused the back-up containment system at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth to be declared inoperable for about an hour on Tuesday morning. A defective seal on the water pipe was allowing air to escape from the reactor building. While an alarm is supposed to respond in these situations, the alarm did not work. The defect was discovered during an engineering check of the plant.

"A small amount of tritiated water was found in ground water monitoring wells at Plymouth's Pilgrim Nuclear Station, July 13. The highest levels of tritium found, 13,000 picocuries, on the Atlantic Ocean side of the plant, have not reached 1 percent of the highest levels found at the Vermont Yankee plant, but state officials want swift action. In a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), said identification of the radioactive isotope is often the first sign of leaking buried pipes at nuclear power stations. "This report is yet another disturbing reminder of the dangers lurking in the miles and miles of buried pipes within nuclear reactors that have never been inspected and will likely never be inspected," Markey stated. "This is simply unacceptable and cannot possibly be sufficient to ensure the safety of both the public and the plant." "

U.S. Rep. Edward Markey is using a fire last week at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth to turn up the heat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Markey sent a letter to the federal agency on Friday, posing a long list of questions about the Oct. 29 fire in an outbuilding at the plant property that the plant operator says was contained to one room.

A plan by the owner of Vermont Yankee and the Pilgrim Nuclear Station in Massachusetts to spin off five nuclear reactors under a new company could be in jeopardy because of Wall Street's financial crisis. Entergy Corp., which is based in New Orleans, wants to fold the plants into Enexus Energy Corp., a new company. To complete the deal, Enexus, a publicly traded Delaware holding company, must raise $4.5 billion to buy the nuclear plants in New York, Vermont, Michigan, and Massachusetts from Entergy.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is appealing a decision by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission about safety issues at nuclear power plants, including the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth. Coakley's appeal comes roughly two months after the commission denied a request to consider new information about the risk of severe accidents in spent-fuel storage facilities at nuclear plants. The new information pertains to risks related to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, operator error and equipment failure, according to Coakley.