NRC, State To Review Boron Leak At Indian Point

CORTLANDT, NY — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting, via telephone, Thursday regarding the repairs to the Indian Point 2 reactor vessel head spare penetration. The meeting with NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, will review repairs made to Indian Point 2 after boron was found on the reactor head.

Indian Point 2 entered a refueling and maintenance outage — its last — in mid-March.

As part of the outage-related activities, the plant’s reactor pressure vessel head was visually examined. During this inspection, a very small boron deposit was identified on a head penetration, said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the NRC. "This was a spare penetration that was not being actively used. The leak rate was likely extremely small -- much less than 0.01 gallons per minute -- based on the minute amount of boron found. The boric acid deposits around the penetration were only detected upon close examination by a remote camera.

"The NRC requires plant owners to visually and ultrasonically examine reactor pressure vessel heads to ensure any problems are detected and do not become safety-significant. The concern is that if the condition were not identified early, it could affect the metal surrounding the area that maintains pressure within the vessel. The underlying concern is that even a very small leak could eventually propagate into a more significant loss-of-coolant event."

Entergy proposed a weld overlay to repair the leak, a non-code approach. The NRC reviewed it and gave them a verbal approval and had inspectors on-site who monitored the work. They did not identify any concerns, Sheehan said. The repairs have now been completed.

Entergy officials said the company is investing more than $75 million in the plant during the outage, reinforcing their commitment to safe, secure and reliable operations through the unit's permanent shutdown by April 30, 2020.

In January 2017, Entergy announced its plan for the shutdown of Indian Point Energy Center as part of a settlement with New York State. In exchange, New York State agreed to drop its legal challenges and support renewal of the operating licenses for the facility.

SEE ALSO

• Reusing Indian Point Property: Topic For Task Force Thursday
  
• Plan for Indian Point Closing, Aftermath
  
• Indian Point Closing Will Have 'Catastrophic' Effect: Westchester County Exec
  
• Indian Point Unit 2 Begins Last Refueling, Maintenance Outage