A prodigious winter storm that dumped 10 to 40 inches of snow across New England caused a shut down at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, Mass., which could remain offline for several days due to damage to two major transmission lines.
There was no safety threat at the plant, Pilgrim spokeswoman Lauren Burm said. When the power lines failed at 4 a.m, Tuesday, the plant was already operating at 20 percent of capacity in response to storm conditions threatening the power grid.
The storm, called Juno, was massive, but proved the region's resiliency. The National Grid had predicted 400,000 would lose power in what turned out to be the worst winter pounding for some areas since 1935. Later tallies indicated that estimate was excessive.
Homes without power were estimated at 21,881. At one point, that included the entire island of Nantucket. A lion's share of the outages were on Cape Cod and the South Shore, the Boston Globe reported.
“All safety systems worked (as) designed and plant conditions are stable,” reported Entergy in an online posting. The plant had 10 days of fuel on site to run backup systems, AP reported.
At least one blogger noted the point that the plant closure belied the nuclear power industry's contention that nuclear power plants were reliable 24X7. The blogger failed to mention that it was trouble with power lines, not trouble at the power plant, that triggered the shut down.
Plymouth is 38 miles southeast of Boston. The Pilgrim facility features a General Electric Type 3 boiling water reactor operated by Entergy Nuclear Operations.