Markey: Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Owners Among Worst In U.S.
PLYMOUTH (CBS/AP) — Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey blasted the owners of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth Tuesday, just hours after they announced they'll close the plant by June 2019 because it's becoming too expensive to run.
"We just have one of the worst nuclear power plant operators in America," Markey said of New Orleans-based Entergy Corp.
"The company that owns Pilgrim has some of the least, well-managed nuclear power plants across the entire country. This is not something that is just a problem in Massachusetts, it's a problem for this company no matter where they own nuclear power plants and what they're saying is that they have financial problems."
Entergy cited "poor market conditions, reduced revenues and increased operational costs," in its decision to close Pilgrim, which comes about a month after federal inspectors downgraded the plant's safety rating to the lowest level.
Bill Mohl, Entergy's president of wholesale commodities, told WBZ-TV they were expecting a loss of more than $40 million a year in revenue for Pilgrim.
"If you run a nuclear power plant and you're having financial problems, that means that you probably will not have the revenues to increase the safety protections that a nuclear power plant needs as its getting older," Markey said.
The 680-megawatt plant, which went online in 1972, was relicensed in 2012 for an additional 20 years and is the only nuclear power plant in Massachusetts. It employs about 600 people.
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