Tough times, no easy answers for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/09/26/pilgrim-nuclear-power-plant-faces-significant-headwinds-stay-open/RQCmRnjs0oiPsQXLprElpM/story.html



The Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth.

Tough times, no easy answers for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant
By David Abel and Beth Healy Globe Staff September 26, 2015

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station was already facing rising costs, declining revenues, and an energy market increasingly inhospitable to nuclear power. And then the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission delivered some really bad news.

The commission this month downgraded the safety rating of the 43-year-old plant in Plymouth, which it now rates as one of the three least-safe units among the nation’s 99 reactors.

The multimillion-dollar repairs now required could deal a death blow to Pilgrim, and in so doing, inflict significant damage to the state’s effort to cut its carbon emissions — an effort that now relies heavily on nuclear power.

Entergy Corp., the conglomerate that owns Pilgrim, is now grappling with whether to invest in the needed repairs at a time when analysts are questioning its ability to continue operating its beleaguered nuclear plants across the country.

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It's too bad that Deval Partick single handedly shut down Cape Wind. Exexelon (sp?) and other gas companies have been laying new gas lines across the state - eminent domain appears to be the weapon of choice.