Indian Point 2 goes back online after three-day interruption

Indian Point 2 goes back online after three-day interruption
By GREG CLARYTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: June 1, 2007)
BUCHANAN - Indian Point 2 returned to full power yesterday after being off the state's electricity grid for three days because of a malfunctioning water valve in one of the nuclear plant's four steam generators.
Workers began taking the 1,000-megawatt electricity producer up from its 2 percent idling state at 3 a.m. and it was running at full capacity by about 11 a.m., plant officials said.
Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns and operates Indian Point, had taken the plant off the state grid about 3 p.m. Monday after workers discovered the water feed problem early that morning.
"We believe they had responded appropriately," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Diane Screnci.
So did Fred Dacimo, Entergy's top executive for the Buchanan site.
"Our control room operators and staff performed very well in shutting down the plant, making the repairs, and returning the unit to service," Dacimo said in a prepared statement yesterday. "It was the correct decision to shut down the plant. Their training and commitment to safety is what Entergy is about."
Indian Point 3 was unaffected by the shutdown and continued to send 1,000 megawatts of electricity to the grid. Every 1,000 megawatts provides enough electricity to power about 1 million homes.
Company officials said the malfunctioning part had to be disassembled to complete the repair.
The plant had safely operated continuously for 90 days before Monday's shutdown, but because the plant didn't have to be entirely shut down, the stoppage won't affect Indian Point 2's safety rating.
The unit has been shut down five times in the past year and a half for different problems and another shutdown would have lowered its rating from green - the safest classification - to white, the second of four categories.
The ratings are tied to hours of critical operation, but NRC officials said the Memorial Day stoppage fell under the category of a power change rather than an actual shutdown and the company has had fewer of those per 7,000 hours of operation.
The NRC said it will review all the procedures, but initially found the company didn't make its decisions based on the category of the outage.
Entergy officials said they wanted the reactor in effect idling because it would be easier to bring back online.
In other Indian Point developments, the NRC has scheduled the first public meeting on the company's application to extend its operating licenses for Indian Point 2 and 3 for 20 years each.
Screnci said the date is tentatively June 27 and the evening meeting will likely be at Colonial Terrace, a catering hall in Cortlandt.
Screnci said the agency opted to hold two meetings on separate dates - the first informational, the second to solicit local comment.
"Riverkeeper and some members of Congress asked for the meetings to be separated and we agreed," Screnci said. "Recently, we have joined the information session and scoping session into one."
She estimated the second public meeting would be held during the summer, convened during the afternoon and again during the evening, to allow for more local participation.
"It really is important that we get the comments from the public on the scope of the environmental impact (of relicensing the plants)," Screnci said.
Riverkeeper officials said the agency made the right move to split the meetings.
"Riverkeeper commends the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for realizing that limiting public participation in the relicensing process goes against the grain of our democratic society," said Lisa Rainwater, Indian Point campaign director for the environmental group. "Providing the public with two separate and equally important meetings on Entergy's bid to relicense Indian Point for 20 more years will keep the process open and more accessible to the public."
Entergy picked up an endorsement this week in its efforts to extend its operating permit for the site through 2035, when the Westchester County Association, a business group, announced its support of the application.
WCA President William M. Mooney Jr. said nuclear energy was important to sustaining the area's economic vitality.
"Entergy has made substantial investments to address safety and security issues," he said, adding that the company provides a substantial proportion of the energy for the region and deserves the support of the business community.Indian Point license hearing scheduled
Reach Greg Clary at gclary@lohud.com or 914-696-8566.