Entergy Shuts Down Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Permanently - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Entergy Corp. (ETR) announced Monday that the control room operators at its Plymouth, Massachusetts-based Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station shut down its reactor for the final time on Friday, at 5:28 p.m.

The decision to shut down Pilgrim was the result of a number of financial factors, including low wholesale energy prices. The closure of Pilgrim is another important milestone in Entergy's exit of the merchant power business, as the company transitions to a pure-play utility business.

Entergy's remaining operating nuclear power plants in merchant power markets - Indian Point Unit 2 and Unit 3, in New York, and Palisades Power Plant, in Michigan, are scheduled to be shut down in 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively.

These closures, along with the sale of these plants to decommissioning specialty companies, mark the end of Entergy's participation in merchant power markets and its return to a pure-play utility.

In August, Entergy announced the proposed sale of the subsidiary that owns Pilgrim to a Holtec International subsidiary, a decommissioning specialty company. Regulatory approval and closing of the transaction are targeted for 2019.