Indian Point 2 In Poor Shape For The Last Year of Life?

Indian Point 2 returned to service, but shuts off again about 12 hours later 

Peter D. Kramer, Rockland/Westchester Journal News P


BUCHANAN - Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant was back online and generating power Sunday, nine days after a malfunction on the non-nuclear side forced a precautionary shutdown in the reactor. But hours later it shut down, again.

On March 15, the initial shutdown began around 3 p.m., ending at 2 a.m. on March 24, according to Jerry Nappi, a spokesman for the nuclear plant's owner, Entergy.

But that was short lived — 12 hours and 45 minutes later, the system tripped again, around 2:45 p.m. on Sunday, over a similar malfunction to the one that caused the problem in the first place.

0 FOR 2: Both Indian Point reactors down at same time

The first shutdown of Indian Point 2 came while the plant's other reactor, Indian Point 3, was down for its scheduled refueling. That means that for nearly 9 days, the plant was not generating power. The last time both reactors went down at the same time was in the spring of 2009 when Unit 2 had an unplanned shutdown while Unit 3 was down for maintenance.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the reactor was safely shut down and there were no threats to public safety.

Entergy announced in January 2017 that, as part of an agreement with the state of New York, it would shut down Indian Point by 2021. Unit 2, which went through its final refueling and maintenance last year, is slated to close in 2020.