Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth is shutting down, its parent company announced Tuesday.
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Entergy said current and forecast power prices have fallen about $10 per megawatt hour, representing an annual loss of more than $40 million in revenue for the Pilgrim plant, located in Plymouth, Mass.
ETR says it expected the plant to incur annual after-tax net losses on an operational basis of $10M-$30M for 2015, 2016 and 2017, before accounting for additional costs related to the decision to close the plant and any potential writedowns.
“Even though five new reactors are being built in the Southeastern United States, it is disconcerting that the Pilgrim plant will be retired prematurely due to electricity market flaws that remain uncorrected in the Northeast”.
Entergy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Leo Denault said the decision to close Pilgrim was “incredibly hard”.
Entergy said it has notified the independent grid operator, ISO New England Inc (ISO-NE), that Pilgrim will not participate as a capacity resource in the market after 31 May 2019, meaning that the plant will shut by 1 June 2019.
The state will continue to live in the shadow of a plant that many people consider unsafe, said Arlene Williamson of Cape Downwinders.
In addition, the company pointed out that it had invested hundreds of millions of dollars to improve Pilgrim’s safety, as well as its reliability and security.
Skerpon would not provide details of the proposal, but said he does not believe the union contract is a key factor in Entergy’s decision about the future of FitzPatrick.
But Mohl said the plant’s neighbours have no reason worry. The plant, he said, provides 17 per cent of the electrical power to Massachusetts.
“We are absolutely committed to safety”, he said. Beyond literally being an electricity powerhouse for four decades, it has significantly helped improve the region’s air quality and, to this day, has an important role to play in regional and national efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the electric sector.
However, wholesale energy market design flaws, including state subsidies of renewable energy were also to blame, it said.
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Pilgrim’s closure will leave the country with only 98 nuclear power reactors. “The time is now in New England and around the nation to rapidly transition towards the safe, affordable clean energy of wind, solar and geothermal power, ” he said.
