BUCHANAN – A malfunctioning roof fan caused a power failure for control rods at Indian Point Unit 2, leading to a temporary shutdown of the nuclear reactor, a company spokesman said Monday.
Unit 2, one of the two reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center, was manually shut down at about 5:20 p.m. Saturday after about 10 control rods “dropped” into the reactor core. The reactor is expected to resume its operation either Tuesday or Wednesday, said Jerry Nappi, spokesman for Entergy Corp., which owns and operates the Buchanan nuclear plant. The plant’s other reactor, Unit 3, keeps running.
Control rods, which are held in place by powered magnets, are designed to adjust the power level of the fuel inside the reactor. When a malfunctioning roof fan caused a short circuit, the magnets lost power, and control rods were released into the reactor. Per practice, the reactor was manually shut down by the operators, Nappi said. (Control rods shouldn’t be confused with fuel rods, which hold uranium pellets.)
No radioactivity was released from Unit 2 because of Saturday’s incident, according to Entergy.
Two inspectors from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have verified the plant’s safety on Saturday and Sunday.
By coincidence, NRC Chairman Stephen Burns is in Westchester on Monday and Tuesday for a previously scheduled visit. He held meetings with state and local officials and representatives from community organizations at the Westchester Marriot in Tarrytown on Monday. He’s expected to tour Indian Point on Tuesday, said Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman.
Sheehan said Burns’ visit has no specific purpose other than familiarizing himself with Indian Point and its surrounding community.
Entergy is currently seeking to extend the licenses for its two reactors for 20 more years. The original 40-year license for Indian Point Unit 2 expired in September 2013 and the license for Unit 3 is set to expire Sunday. Entergy is allowed to keep operating the reactors until NRC decides on the renewal application.
Indian Point can generate up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to 30 percent of the electricity needed to power New York City and Westchester County. But Unit 2’s unexpected shutdown did not cause power outages because New York’s electric system maintains surplus power supplies for unexpected outages or sudden spikes in power consumption, according to the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO).
Each day, 2,620 more megawatts of electricity over the projected statewide demand are generated in New York, according to David Flanagan, a NYISO spokesman.
Entergy has recently announced its decision to close the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Oswego County. The plant, which has been in operation since 1975, loses about $60 million annually, and its financial viability is worsening lately because of cheaper electricity generated through natural gas, according to the company.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has called for Indian Point’s closure, vowed to fight the Oswego plant’s closing.