Mass. Nuclear Plant Offline After Leak At Valve

By The Associated Press January 21, 2013

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The operators of a Plymouth nuclear power plant have shut it down to investigate what they called a minor leak at a valve on a pipe that carries steam.

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station shut down the plant at about 5:45 a.m. Monday.

In a statement, plant owner Entergy said workers are investigating the cause of the leak at a pilot valve on one of the plant’s four safety relief valves.

It said the plant “is in a safe, stable condition and there is no threat to public safety.”

The shutdown comes just four days after the 685-megawatt plant came back online after being shut down for seven days. That Jan. 10 shutdown came after the failure of an electrical relay caused Pilgrim’s two large water recirculation pumps to automatically turn off.

X-Ray

Due to the actions of interveners and obstructionists, mostly based on points of
interpretation and dotting the “i”s, new construction has been stopped. They
have made fighting through the courts so expensive with constant litigation that
Utilities have abandoned adding modern nuclear capacity. So we have old,
inefficient, less safe plants where we could have modern designs that cost less
and are safe, and don’t add to green-house gasses to the environment. Check the
status of Pilgrim 2: dead.

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