Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station is currently the only nuclear power plant operating in the United States Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is located in the Manomet section of Plymouth on Cape Cod Bay, south of the tip of Rocky Point and north of Priscilla Beach. Like many similar plants, it was constructed by Bechtel, and is powered by a General Electric boiling water reactor and generator — a General Electric Mark I reactor of the same type and design as the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. It has a 690 MW production capacity. Pilgrim Station produces about 14% of the electricity generated in Massachusetts.
Built at a cost of $231 million in 1972 by Boston Edison, it was sold in 1999 to the Louisiana-based Entergy Corporation, part of a complex deal that is the result of deregulation of the electrical utility industry.
On April 11, 1986 a recurring equipment problem forced emergency shutdown of the plant. The resulting issue cost $1.001 billion.
Pilgrim keeps its spent nuclear fuel in an on-site storage pool, waiting for federal direction on the correct disposal process. The Yucca Mountain site in Nevada was being considered for this purpose until its deselection in 2009.
Pilgrim's original license to operate would have expired in 2012. In 2006, Entergy filed an application for an extended operating license (until 2032) with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In May 2012, the NRC approved the 20-year extension; NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko was the lone dissenting vote.
Opposition to Pilgrim's license extension came mainly from Pilgrim Watch, a local group which filed numerous legal and procedural challenges. The state attorney general has also raised questions about, among other issues, the possible danger posed by storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Plymouth site.
Read more about Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station: Surrounding Population, Seismic Risk
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