Indian Point Begins Refueling Outage of Unit 3

Entergy shut down Indian Point 3 this morning for a planned refueling outage.

“We have brought in about 1,000 highly skilled contract workers, in addition to our 1,000 regular employees, to help perform hundreds of scheduled maintenance activities and inspections during the unit 3 outage,” said Larry Coyle, site vice president and top Entergy official at Indian Point, in a press release. “In addition to conducting important work on unit 3, they are providing an economic boost to our region.”

Refueling outages usually last about a month, a company spokeswoman said.

Here’s the complete press release from Entergy:

Indian Point Control room operators shut down Entergy’s Indian Point unit 3 nuclear power plant this morning to begin a refueling outage that brings 1,000 additional workers and economic benefits after two years of highly reliable and safe operation.

Indian Point is investing more than $50 million, including about $30 million on employee salaries, to complete the refueling and other important projects at unit 3. That investment translates to additional economic activity for the surrounding communities from dozens of vendors and hundreds of additional contract workers, many from outside the area.

“We have brought in about 1,000 highly skilled contract workers, in addition to our 1,000 regular employees, to help perform hundreds of scheduled maintenance activities and inspections during the unit 3 outage,” said Larry Coyle, site vice president and top Entergy official at Indian Point, “In addition to conducting important work on unit 3, they are providing an economic boost to our region.”

U.S. nuclear power plants are among the most reliable of any type of electricity generator, operating on average more than 90 percent of the time. Nuclear plants also help regional electricity grids maintain a diverse array of fuel generation and protect against an over-reliance on a single fuel type

Unit 3 was online generating electricity more than 99 percent of the time since it returned to service from its previous refueling outage, in April 2013. Indian Point’s other operating unit, Unit 2, continues in service at full power.

Indian Point Energy Center, in Buchanan, N.Y., is home to two operating nuclear power plants, unit 2 and unit 3, which generate approximately 2000 megawatts of electricity for homes, business and public facilities in New York City and Westchester County.

Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation’s leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $12 billion and approximately 13,000 employees.

PHOTOS/Entergy