Indian Point Energy Center’s Unit 2 reactor was shut down Friday morning to complete weld repairs to a pipe that was leaking river water back into the Hudson River.
The shutdown comes eight days after the Unit 2 reactor was brought back online following a three-month hiatus.
The leak was dripping at a rate of about one drop every five seconds from a non-radioactive system, according to Entergy Corp., the nuclear plant’s operators. There is no ongoing leak and no threat to safety, according to Entergy, but the reactor needs to be shut down for repairs in accordance with Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations.
The shutdown is expected to only last into the weekend, a spokesperson for Entergy said. While the reactor is down, Con Edison, Inc. employees will be able test a breaker in a switchyard located near Indian Point in Buchanan. The breaker can be tested only while electricity from Unit 2 is not being sent to the switchyard, Entergy said.
Indian Point Unit 3, the plant’s other reactor, is still on and producing electricity, Entergy said.
The Unit 2 reactor was shut down previously for three months while Entergy replaced 278 bolts in the nuclear plant that were found to have defects during a scheduled schedule in March. It started back up on June 16 after receiving approval from the NRC.
An anti-nuclear environmental group, Friends of the Earth, challenged the restart both to NRC regulators and then in federal court. The group asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to intervene on the review process for a challenge it sent the NRC. The organization asked the NRC to prevent the restart on Unit 2 and force shut down of Unit 3 to test for the same bolt issues. When the NRC referred the appeal for staff review, Friends of the Earth asked the federal courts to intervene and compel the NRC to shut down the Unit 2 reactor until it had ruled on the challenge.
A panel of federal judges denied that claim on Thursday, saying the Friends of the Earth’s petition “failed to demonstrate a clear and indisputable right to the extraordinary relief requested.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has repeatedly called for Indian Point to be permanently closed, called the shutdown the “latest example of the repeated and continuing problems at the plant.”
“In the last year alone, there has been unprecedented degradation of Indian Point Unit 2 baffle-former bolts, groundwater contamination and increased NRC oversight at Unit 3 due to numerous unplanned shutdowns,” Cuomo continued. “This is yet another sign that the aging and wearing away of important components at the facility are having a direct and unacceptable impact on safety, and is further proof that the plant is not a reliable generation resource.”
