Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant Shut Down. Lost Power In Blizzard.

RSOE EDIS not reporting the event yet. Will have to watch for information to go up.

why do they use me for every frickin drama?

[link to www.washingtonpost.com]

Croikey!-

[link to enenews.com]

Emergency declared at U.S. nuclear plant as ‘Blizzicane’ hits Boston area — Hurricane force windgust at airport
Published: February 9th, 2013 at 2:00 am ET

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says a power plant in Massachusetts has lost power and shut down during a massive snowstorm.

The NRC says the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth experienced an automatic shutdown at around 9:15 p.m. Friday after losing off-site power. Spokesman Neil Sheehan says the plant has declared an unusual event...

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on Cape Cod Bay is directly in the path of the historic winter storm due to hit Plymouth, Mass. starting Friday. According to information from the National Weather Service, there could be widespread prolonged power outages, coastal flooding and erosion, and hurricane force winds.

Local groups have asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to order Entergy Corporation, Pilgrim’s operator, to take the reactor offline during the storm to prevent an unacceptable risk to the public and the environment. This storm differs from Hurricane Sandy because it is hitting Plymouth during high tide, not low tide, and will be accompanied by heavy snow and ice.

The groups say that a prolonged power outage, flooding, high winds, and snow and ice could cause several serious problems at Pilgrim. First, the pumps that circulate water through the pools of high-level nuclear waste could fail. If this happens, the water in the spent fuel pool would eventually evaporate, exposing the spent fuel. Second, Pilgrim’s cooling water intake pumps, which take in over 500 million gallons of water per day from Cape Cod Bay to cool the reactor, could flood or fail. Under either scenario, there could be an explosion that would release radioactive material throughout the region...

This is bad. Their diesel generators better not fail or things could get a lot worse.

if there is 3 feet of snow it could be a while before anyone is able to refuel those gennies..

DEEP SHIT

Blimey!

From the local nuclear watchdog group on structural defects in the Pilgrim plant-

[link to www.pilgrimwatch.org]

Lack of Quality Assurance for Fuel Pool Cooling System during LOCA/LOOP

In 1992, a study at the Susquehanna NPS by David Lockbaum and Donald Prevatte concluded that there is a major meltdown risk that is generic to boiling water reactor’s, Like Pilgrim (David Lockbaum, Nuclear Waste Disposal Crisis, PennWell Books, Tulsa, Oklahoma 1996).

The design flaw can occur in the event of an accident or the loss of off-site power. Pilgrim NPS is on the coast and loss of off-site power is a concern. Although there are backup diesel generators to protect a reactors cooling system if power is lost, there are no such diesel backups for a reactor’s used fuel pool; and all back-up generators may be inoperable - as was the case at Seabrook Station. During a LOCA, the normal cooling system would be useless because it runs on electricity. Activating the backup system manually would expose plant workers to fatal levels of radiation. The fix is expensive and time consuming. It has not happened.

From wiki-

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station is...powered by a General Electric boiling water reactor and generator — a General Electric Mark I reactor of the same type and design as the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant...

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity...

The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 4,737,792...Cities within 50 miles include Boston (35 miles to city center)

If Pilgrim is of the same design as Fukushima, then the backup generators would be outdoors.

Anybody care to comment, on what effect feet of snow, and feet higher snow drifts, would have on outdoor generators?

I'd think you'd have to be shoveling them out in those conditions, and the air intake would have to be up to par.

Or else you got trouble.

Right there in river city.

And that stands for pool.

Not that kinda pool.

Nuclear pool, with temperatures rising fast...

Yeah, there is a reason why they don't like being pushed to release detailed info of exactly what's happening... what you dolt know would make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, and isn't good PR for their industry.

News blackout underway.

February 06, 2013

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth is again experiencing problems with a finicky safety relief valve that shut the plant down last month.

Power at the plant was reduced Sunday because of a leak in a safety relief valve that helps control steam pressure at the facility, according to Carol Wightman, spokeswoman for Entergy Nuclear, which owns the plant.

Reducing the power allowed the valve to reseat itself, but as power gradually was increased again another minor leak was detected, Wightman said.

If the old leaky boat blows or the river rises and they can't keep the rods cool there won't be any Brattleboro.

March 11th, 2011 2:45pm local time, power lost at Fukushima nuclear plant in wake of tsunami.

March 12th, 2011 3:35pm local time-