Tag Archives: Super Bowl

Pilgrim nuke down because of cold, heat, leak: when does it ever run?

Down in January, February, April, May, running low March and June, and now likely to go down because of summer heat, under what conditions does Entergy’s Pilgrim nuke near Boston, MA like to run? Entergy also couldn’t keep the power on during the Super Bowl and still has Arkansas Nuclear 1 down since a fatal accident in March. To be fair, many nukes can’t handle heat. Remind me, why are we building more of them?

Pilgrim 1 NRC Power Reactor Status Jan-July 2013

Christine Legere wrote for Cape Cod Times 18 July 2013, Seawater temps too high for Pilgrim cooling,

PLYMOUTH — The ongoing heat wave could force Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to shut down, as soaring temperatures continue to warm the Cape Cod Bay waters that the plant relies on to cool key safety systems.

Pilgrim’s license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires Continue reading →

Nuclear reactor percent power from NRC data

Do nuclear reactors really deliver dependable baseload capacity? I hear industry execs say 99.99% uptime. The real average from seven years of NRC data for 104 reactors is 88.13%.

Vogtle 1 According to Power Reactor Status Reports posted online by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, here are the actual percent power percentages over time for the 104 listed nuclear power reactors. The timeframe is 31 March 2006 through today, 21 May 2013. (The NRC data appears to go back to 1999, but seven years is a good sample to start with.) The computation for each reactor is the sum of the uptime percentages for each day divided by the number of days. The total uptime is the sum of the reactor uptimes divided by the number of reactors. Here’s the list, sorted two ways:

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Pilgrim nuke shut down in winter storm again this weekend

Entergy, the company that blacked out the Super Bowl, now has taken down Massachusetts’ Pilgrim nuclear reactor in a winter storm. And that’s not the first time this year. Plus, what will happen with sea level rise to that nuke on the coast?

Beth Daley wrote for Boston.com this morning, Pilgrim nuclear plant shuts down in storm, Pilgrim Station nuclear plant automatically shut down in the thick of the storm Friday night after losing power, according to a statement by Entergy, the plant’s owner.

Authorities said there is no danger and backup diesel generators are powering safety systems.

“The plant is in a safe, secure condition and will remain on backup power supply until off-site power is restored,” the statement said.

But that’s hardly the whole story. Pilgrim Station has been down about a week lately, and at 80% still other days, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC):

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