Indian Point Energy Center’s Unit 2 reactor shut down yesterday for the final scheduled refueling and maintenance outage before the reactor goes permanently offline in 2020.
Control room operators shut down the reactor Monday morning, officially starting the $74 million refueling process. Entergy Corp., Indian Point’s operators, said 1,000 additional skilled contract workers will supplement the full-time staff of about 1,000 during the outage. That group will handle maintenance projects that include:
- inspection of baffle bolts on a removable liner inside the reactor;
- replacing the seal on the reactor coolant pump;
- repairing the fuel oil storage tank for one of the unit”™s three emergency diesel generators;
- inspecting the steam generator; and
- inspecting the low-pressure turbine blade.
This is the 23rd time the reactor has been shut down for refueling and maintenance since it debuted in 1974. It’s also the last time. Entergy reached a deal in early 2017 with New York state to shut down both of its reactors. In exchange, the state dropped legal challenges to a short-term extension of the nuclear plant’s federal license.
Indian Point Unit 2 is expected to shut down in 2020, while the plant’s other reactor, Unit 3, will go offline a year later.
“We remain dedicated to operational excellence at Indian Point and are investing millions of dollars to ensure the facility”™s continued safe, secure and reliable operation until permanently closing,” said Tony Vitale, Entergy”™s top official at Indian Point. “During the next several weeks, approximately 2,000 workers will perform equipment maintenance, comprehensive safety inspections and refuel the reactor so we can continue to meet our rigorous operational safety standards and provide clean, reliable power to millions of New Yorkers.”
Very sad. You can say good bye to cleaner air and say hello to even more expensive electricity in New York. Where do they pin heads expect to get the juice to replace Indian Point? Natural gas probably — which is dirtier. All in all, without the steady, reliable flow of electricity from Indian Point new electric will be harder to get and more complicated to integrate into the grid (solar and wind are intermittent) so prices will go up in a state where electricity is already painfully expensive.