In an “agonizing decision,” Entergy said yesterday that it will shutdown the Pilgrim Nuclear Station in Massachusetts no later than June 2019 and as early as spring of 2017. The announcement follows the downgrading of the Pilgrim plant by Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month to Repetitive Degraded Cornerstone Column Four, the second to lowest performance category for a nuclear plant, after a series of unplanned shutdowns and unplanned shutdowns with complications in 2014 and 2015. Entergy officials, though, attributed the plant closure to economic factors, including: Low current and forecast wholesale energy prices brought about by record low natural gas prices, wholesale energy market design flaws that continue to suppress energy and capacity prices in the region, and increased operational costs and enhanced Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversight as a result of the new Column Four designation.
“We started a compressive evaluation of Pilgrim several months ago—similar to what we do every year, and after careful analysis, it became clear that Pilgrim is no longer financially viable,” Entergy President Bill Mohl said in a press conference yesterday. “Our decision to close Pilgrim was based on a combination of reduced revenues, poor market structure, challenging regional energy policies, and increased operational costs. We were forced to acknowledge the harsh reality that Pilgrim faces very unfavorable current and projected financial and operating conditions and make the shutdown decision as a choice of last resort after reviewing every viable option.”
The exact timing of the shutdown still needs to be determined, Mohl said. Entergy has an agreement with ISO New England Inc., the independent system operator of the electric grid, to provide energy to the grid until May 31, 2019, but the utility plans to negotiate with ISO-NE to see if other alternative energy suppliers could facilitate an earlier end date. The Pilgrim Station has a planned re-fuel date in spring of 2017 that could serve as another possible end date, Mohl said. Entergy anticipates having a firmer shutdown date in the first half of 2016. Pilgrim’s decommissioning trust fund currently sits at approximately $870 million as of Sept. 30, 2015, an amount within the NRC’s required assurance levels, but more is likely needed to finance the plant cleanup. In comparison, Vermont Yankee, another Entergy shutdown reactor site, estimated its cleanup would cost approximately $1.24 billion.
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