US energy utility Entergy has shut down its 677 MW Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, Massachusetts (United States) after 47 years of operation. Pilgrim came onstream in 1972 and was purchased by Entergy in 1999 from Boston Edison. In 2015, Entergy decided to leave the merchant power business and announced that it would close the nuclear reactor for economic reasons, including low wholesale energy prices, even if Pilgrim's operating license ran until 2032. In August 2018, the group sold the power plant, along with the 805 MWe Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan (United States) to a subsidiary of Holtec International, which will be responsible for the decommissioning of the units.
Entergy plans to shut down its nuclear reactors in merchant power markets, namely Indian Point units 2 and 3 in New York (1 GW reactors expected to be stopped in 2020 and 2021) and Palisades (planned shut down in 2022). The group, which owns and operates 5 nuclear units in regulated markets, namely Arkansas Nuclear One units 1 and 2, plus single unit plants at Grand Gulf in Mississippi, and River Bend and Waterford 3 in Louisiana, will continue to operate these nuclear power plants.