MAV
04-06-2007, 06:25 PM
A fire forced the shutdown of the Indian Point 3 reactor, in Buchanan, N.Y., this morning. There was no release of radiation, but it was the second plant shut-down this week.
The fire, in the transformer yard outside the reactor building, was extinguished by a plant fire brigade, according to Entergy, which owns the reactor. The company declared an “unusual event,” the lowest category in a four-level ranking of emergencies, at 11:43 a.m. The event was declared over about an hour later.
Indian Point 3 had been shut for 24 days for its biannual refueling, and returned to service on March 31, but operators shut it again on April 3, in the pre-dawn hours, because of a problem with a cooling water pump inside the plant. On April 3 and again today, the plant had not had time to reach full power before being forced to shut down.
The fire comes at a difficult time for the plant. The owners are seeking to extend the 40-year licenses on the two operating reactors by 20 years, over the opposition of the Westchester county executive, Andrew Spano.
Susan Tolchin, Mr. Spano’s chief adviser, said it was the fourth emergency shutdown since last July 1. The national average is less than one per plant per year.
“This is a cause for concern for us,” Ms. Tolchin said. She renewed Mr. Spano’s call to shut the two reactors there, just as the owner, Entergy, is seeking to extend its 40-year licenses by 20 years. She also referred to a recent failure of the emergency sirens to work.
The other operable reactor, Indian Point 2, has also had an unusually large number of shutdowns in the last year. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes cites the number of shutdowns as a reason for enhanced scrutiny, although the commission has given the two reactors generally high grades for operations. But the operators and government officials are looking for the source of leaks of radioactive water, apparently coming from two different spent fuel pools. Neither leak is a threat to health, according to the government.
Indian Point is on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 24 miles north of New York City.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/nyregion/06cnd-power.html?ref=nyregion
The fire, in the transformer yard outside the reactor building, was extinguished by a plant fire brigade, according to Entergy, which owns the reactor. The company declared an “unusual event,” the lowest category in a four-level ranking of emergencies, at 11:43 a.m. The event was declared over about an hour later.
Indian Point 3 had been shut for 24 days for its biannual refueling, and returned to service on March 31, but operators shut it again on April 3, in the pre-dawn hours, because of a problem with a cooling water pump inside the plant. On April 3 and again today, the plant had not had time to reach full power before being forced to shut down.
The fire comes at a difficult time for the plant. The owners are seeking to extend the 40-year licenses on the two operating reactors by 20 years, over the opposition of the Westchester county executive, Andrew Spano.
Susan Tolchin, Mr. Spano’s chief adviser, said it was the fourth emergency shutdown since last July 1. The national average is less than one per plant per year.
“This is a cause for concern for us,” Ms. Tolchin said. She renewed Mr. Spano’s call to shut the two reactors there, just as the owner, Entergy, is seeking to extend its 40-year licenses by 20 years. She also referred to a recent failure of the emergency sirens to work.
The other operable reactor, Indian Point 2, has also had an unusually large number of shutdowns in the last year. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes cites the number of shutdowns as a reason for enhanced scrutiny, although the commission has given the two reactors generally high grades for operations. But the operators and government officials are looking for the source of leaks of radioactive water, apparently coming from two different spent fuel pools. Neither leak is a threat to health, according to the government.
Indian Point is on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 24 miles north of New York City.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/nyregion/06cnd-power.html?ref=nyregion