Atomic Licensing Board Delays Indian Point Renewal Process

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The question of Indian Point's license renewal has been pushed back at least eight months by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.

The panel handling the license renewal hearing has given the parties in the hearing, which include Entergy, the state of New York and Riverkeeper, more time to do research and submit evidence and legal findings on the perplexing issue of certain bolts in Unit 2's reactor.

The new schedule stretches out to next March, and that is before any decisions on new contention(s) related to the issue.

The infamous baffle-former bolts are part of the baffle assembly that helps keep this type of reactor cool when it is shut down. The NRC has since 2009 required aging plants of Indian Point's design to do an ultrasonic inspection of those bolts, based on the discovery in France of irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking because the bolts are exposed to neutron radiation from the reactor core.

An unprecedented failure rate was revealed at Indian Point 2 this spring when the unit underwent a 10-year inspection under its Aging Management Program.

In all, 227 of 832 baffle-former bolts were either degraded or -- 14 bolts could not be accessed for testing, and two bolts were missing.

While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allowed to Entergy to start Unit 2 back up in June after the inspection and maintenance work, questions about the bolts continue.

According to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, Entergy is sending about 32 of the cracked baffle-former bolts removed from IP2 to a “hot lab” facility for testing.

"Entergy stated that it plans to sponsor the analysis of three of these bolts, the results of which should be communicated by October 2016.10 Some or all of the remaining bolts may be sponsored for analysis by the nuclear industry, which analysis may not be completed until mid-2017," the board said in its order about the new schedule.

The schedule change was proposed by Entergy, the state of New York and Riverkeeper, according to the order.

SEE ALSO:

• Problem Inside Indian Point 2 Reactor: Bad Bolts
• NRC Sending Radiation Specialist to Indian Point
• UPDATE: NRC to Re-Analyze Costs of an Accident at Indian Point
• NRC Eases a Testing Requirement at Indian Point
• UPDATE: Radioactive Water Leak at Indian Point
• Unplanned Reactor Shutdowns Bring More NRC Inspections
• NRC Issues Report on Indian Point 3 License Renewal
• FERC Answers Cuomo's Request to Halt Pipeline Expansion