The Pilgrim nuclear plant in Massachusetts remained offline Wednesday after a manual shutdown prompted by a degraded vacuum in its main condenser.
At 1:11 p.m. Tuesday, the plant was at 35 percent core thermal power for a backwash of the main condenser, according to an event report filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Operators shut the reactor down when presented with the degraded vacuum conditions.
The shutdown did not affect public safety. A standby gas treatment system train did not shut down in the time prescribed for the given conditions and was turned of manually, according to the report. Otherwise, all safety systems functioned as designed.
A spokesman for plant owner Entergy told the Boston Globe that the plant will remain offline until the cause of the condenser problem is identified.