NRC Issues Indian Point Assessment Letter, Unit 3 Inspection Coming Up

CORTLANDT, NY — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its Mid-Cycle Assessment Letter for the Indian Point nuclear power plant Aug. 31, and one of the primary topics is additional inspections for Unit 3.

Indian Point 3 remains in Column 2 (the Regulatory Response Column) of the NRC’s Action Matrix. That designation means the plant is under additional NRC oversight.

The problem remains the unplanned "scrams' -- sudden shutdown of the reactor, whether manual or automatic -- in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Specifically, NRC officials said, it requires that the NRC perform a team inspection at the plant to review Entergy’s root cause evaluation of why it has had so many unplanned shutdowns; any and all corrective actions to prevent recurrence; and its assessment of whether the issues could affect other aspects of plant safety.

"The NRC plans to conduct the supplemental inspection in accordance with Inspection Procedure 95001, “Supplemental Inspection for One or Two White Inputs in a Strategic Performance Area,” beginning September 19," wrote Michael Scott, director of the Division of Reactor Projects, in his letter to Anthony Vitale, Entergy's site vice president at Indian Point.

There are other inspections already scheduled through June 2018.

Indian Point 3 is currently under additional NRC oversight because of a Performance Indicator for the plant that changed from “Green” to “White” (low to moderate safety significance) in the fourth quarter of last year. The Performance Indicator tracks the number of Unplanned Scrams (shutdowns) per 7,000 Hours of Operation. If a plant experiences more than three unplanned shutdowns during this period of time, the Performance indicator transitions from “Green” to “White.”

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

PHOTO: Indian Point from the water/ Entergy