An Indian Point reactor can continue to operate after its permit expires next month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ruled.
Entergy Corp., which owns Buchanan”™s Indian Point Energy Center, received a formal notice from the NRC Monday that said Indian Point 2 could operate while the NRC reviews its renewal application.
Entergy is seeking to relicense Indian Point”™s dual reactors for another 20 years of operation amid opposition from environmental groups and some politicians who believe the facility”™s location in the New York City metro area makes it a danger.
The NRC has so far viewed favorably Entergy”™s relicensing application and was expected to allow the reactor to continue to operate after the license expired. Entergy first filed for renewal in 2007, making the relicensing the lengthiest process of its kind in U.S. history. According to CBS News, this will be the first time in American history that a nuclear power plant operates with an expired license.
Entergy stated in a press release that it had invested more than $1 billion upgrading and engancing the facility and preparing the plants for continued safe operation during the 20-year period of a renewed operating license.
Entergy, a national company with annual revenues of more than $10 billion, bought unit 2 from Con Edison in 2001, one year after it purchased unit 3 from the New York Power Authority. Unit 3”™s permit expires in December 2015. Indian Point 1 is currently out of use.
The facility generates about 25 percent of the power used in New York City and Westchester County. About 1,600 employees work at the Buchanan plant.
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