Warm seas nearly shut down Pilgrim power plant

http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20150812/NEWS/150818930/11444/NEWS

Warm seas nearly shut down Pilgrim power plant
By Christine Legere
Cape Cod Times
Posted Aug. 12, 2015 at 3:19 AM
Updated at 3:23 AM

PLYMOUTH -- The owner of Pilgrim nuclear power plant had been planning to ask for a license adjustment that would allow the plant to draw warmer water from Cape Cod Bay than is currently allowed.

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Pilgrim operators were forced to begin preparing for a shutdown late Sunday afternoon when the temperature of the seawater used to cool the reactor edged above the 75-degree maximum set by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

After reaching a high of 75.09 degrees, the water temperature dropped below the limit about a half-hour later, and Pilgrim was up to full power by 8 p.m.

It was only the second summer in the plant’s 43-year history that water temperatures exceeded the federal limit.