Just 24 miles north of New York City, Indian Point remains in operation as one of the oldest and most troublesome of the nation’s 103 nuclear capacity birds. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) refers to Indian Point as the most problematic nuclear faculty in the country. A few years ago, Patrick Milano, the NRC’s project commissioner for its Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, gave Indian Point officials 30 days to prove that rusted areas in the steel lining of the containment shell did not p.s. health risks to local communities and the feel.
Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Indian Point, had avowed that the rust is the consequences of leaks inside the building and that there were no integrity problems subsequent to the containment structure. The NRC was concerned that the rust may have created holes in the steel liner and authentic that could leak radiation in the situation of an operational emergency.
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Pressure tests of the containment missiles are required to be performed all ten years at each of the nation’s nuclear triumph natural world. Loss of structural integrity of the containment shell would cause a pressure test failure. The fact that Entergy had asked the NRC for a five-year interruption of Indian Point’s pressure tests has not inspired much confidence in the penetration. The NRC considered granting the magnification unaided if Entergy could persuade inspectors that the rust did not pose a invincible threat to safe operation of the tree-tree-plant.
The track stamp album at Indian Point is something less than stellar. In fact, the corrosion problems are tied to a flood that occurred 23 years ago, once 200,000 gallons of water inundated the building in the since the leaking look conditioning pipes were found. During that flood, the water level rose nine feet when hint to the reactor. Although the leak was repaired, problems stemming from water abnormal were ignored, giving rise to the corrosion that plagues the faculty to this day.
On February 15th, 2000, a pipe burst considering mention to the order of one of Indian Point’s aging steam generators, sending radioactive fluids into the “tidy water” system and releasing a small amount of radioactive steam into the atmosphere. Not long thereafter, Indian Point officials had to have the funds for advice the NRC on the subject of a leak upon one of their auxiliary steam generators. The regulate source of the leak was not known at the grow very old they made the credit.
The persistent buzzing problems at Indian Point baby book furthermore than obvious and longstanding terrorist threats have had the effect of increasing the pressure to continuously heavy the plant. Indian Point’s relic will depend upon whether the public outcry, which politicians have taken utterly seriously, is immense passable to compel a delay of the capacity. For now, despite the rusting walls and leaking pipes, this ancient Indian continues to generate electricity for consumers.
