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{{Nuke-NRC1}}
{{Nuke-NRC1}}
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:IPEC_pic.gif|frame|Entergy's Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC)]] -->
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'''Indian Point Energy Center''' ('''IPEC''') is a three-unit [[nuclear power plant]] station located in [[Buchanan, New York]] just south of [[Peekskill]]. It sits on the east bank of the [[Hudson River]], 24 miles north of New York City, New York. The plant, which includes two operating [[Westinghouse Electric Company|Westinghouse]] [[pressurized water reactor]]s, is owned and operated by Entergy Nuclear Northeast, a subsidiary of [[Entergy Corporation]].
'''Indian Point Energy Center''' ('''IPEC''') is a three-unit [[nuclear power plant]] station located in [[Buchanan, New York]] just south of [[Peekskill]]. It sits on the east bank of the [[Hudson River]], 24 miles north of New York City, New York. The plant, which includes two operating [[Westinghouse Electric Company|Westinghouse]] [[pressurized water reactor]]s, is owned and operated by Entergy Nuclear Northeast, a subsidiary of [[Entergy Corporation]]. The two reactors were built in [[1974]] and [[1976]]. Entergy also owns the intact decommissioned Indian Point Unit 1 reactor. Total employment at the site is 1500.

The two reactors were built in [[1974]] and [[1976]]. Entergy also owns the intact decommissioned Indian Point Unit 1 reactor. Total employment at the site is 1500.
A 1971 fire did between five and ten million dollars’ damage to the Indian Point Two reactor. The fire was set in an auxiliary building (housing control panels, cables, and pumps) while Unit Two was fueled but not yet critical and Unit One was operating nearby.


The plants are protected by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including a national guard base within a mile of the plant, as well as by specialized and highly trained private on-site security forces. Plant security across the country has been increased since 9/11. Nuclear plant security is tested by federal officials, including mock assault exercises overseen by the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] (NRC), to assess Indian Point's defenses in the event of an armed assault.
The plants are protected by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including a national guard base within a mile of the plant, as well as by specialized and highly trained private on-site security forces. Plant security across the country has been increased since 9/11. Nuclear plant security is tested by federal officials, including mock assault exercises overseen by the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] (NRC), to assess Indian Point's defenses in the event of an armed assault.

Revision as of 10:42, 10 August 2007

Template:Nuke-NRC1 Indian Point Energy Center (IPEC) is a three-unit nuclear power plant station located in Buchanan, New York just south of Peekskill. It sits on the east bank of the Hudson River, 24 miles north of New York City, New York. The plant, which includes two operating Westinghouse pressurized water reactors, is owned and operated by Entergy Nuclear Northeast, a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. The two reactors were built in 1974 and 1976. Entergy also owns the intact decommissioned Indian Point Unit 1 reactor. Total employment at the site is 1500.

A 1971 fire did between five and ten million dollars’ damage to the Indian Point Two reactor. The fire was set in an auxiliary building (housing control panels, cables, and pumps) while Unit Two was fueled but not yet critical and Unit One was operating nearby.

The plants are protected by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including a national guard base within a mile of the plant, as well as by specialized and highly trained private on-site security forces. Plant security across the country has been increased since 9/11. Nuclear plant security is tested by federal officials, including mock assault exercises overseen by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), to assess Indian Point's defenses in the event of an armed assault.

On May 2, 2007 the NRC announced that the "License Renewal Application for Indian Point Nuclear Plant [is] Available for Public Inspection". Entergy has formally begun the lengthy process of applying to have the operating liceenses orf each unit extended by 20 years.[1]

Technical Data

Indian Point Energy Center Capacity

Approx. 1,955 Megawatts (MWe) net generation with both units operating

Indian Point Unit 1 (IP1)

Indian Point Unit 2 (IP2)

File:IAEC Indian Point PWR.png
Reactor diagram for unit 2
  • Acquired from Consolidated Edison
  • Type: 4-Loop Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)
  • Reactor & NSSS Manufacturer: Westinghouse
  • Architect/Engineer: United Engineers and Constructors (UE&C)
  • Commercial operation began August 1974
  • License expiration date: September 2013
  • Unit Status: Operational

Indian Point Unit 3 (IP3)

  • Acquired from New York Power Authority (NYPA)
  • Type: 4-Loop Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)
  • Reactor & NSSS Manufacturer: Westinghouse
  • Architect/Engineer: United Engineers and Constructors (UE&C)
  • Commercial operation began August 1976
  • License expiration date: December 2015
  • Unit Status: Operational

Controversy

The operation of Indian Point has been controversial, as it is opposed by anti-nuclear and some environmental activists. Interest in shutting down Indian Point dates back to 1979 following the Three Mile Island accident (a partial core meltdown which resulted in no injuries). However, some industry groups have said that shutting Indian Point would put a severe strain on New York City's electricity supply. Entergy (the operator of the plant), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the NRC insist the plant is safe.

Activists claim that radioactive contamination from a major accident with containment breach at Indian Point might reach populated areas including New York City, northern New Jersey, and Fairfield County, Connecticut. The 1982 CRAC-II study by Sandia National Laboratories found that a core meltdown and radiological release at one of the two operating Indian Point reactors could cause 50,000 near-term deaths from acute radiation syndrome and 14,000 long-term deaths from cancer.[4] Since that study, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have disavowed the results as being an "extremely conservative consequence analysis" and is currently pursuing a new, state-of-the-art assessment of possible severe accidents and their consequences.

Public health concerns about the plant have also been raised by activists, specifically in terms of radioactive contamination. On February 15, 2000, the Indian Point II power plant vented a small amount of radioactive steam when an aging steam generator ruptured. The NRC initially reported that no radioactive material was released, but later changed their report to say that there was a leak, but not of a sufficient amount to threaten public safety.[5][6]

New York metropolitan newspapers reported on September 11, that American Airlines Flight 11 flew almost exactly over the Indian Point Energy Center en route to and no more than eight minutes from the World Trade Center. Mohamed Atta (one of the 9/11 hijackers/plotters) had considered nuclear facilities for targeting in a terrorist attack.[7] Entergy says it is prepared for a terrorist attack, and demonstrated that a large airliner crash into the containment building would not cause reactor damage.[citation needed]

Former FEMA director James Lee Witt said that Indian Point's emergency plan does "not consider the possibilities of a terrorist-caused event," emphasizing that an evacuation in the event of an attack would be impossible given the area's congested roads and population density.[8] In 2003, Directors of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Michael D. Brown and Joe Allbaugh certified the plant for operation and approved the evacuation plan. FEMA recently re-approved the evacuation plan for Indian Point, although the environmental activist group Riverkeeper contends that local residents and first responders question its effectiveness. Riverkeeper has lobbied more than 400 politicians (including 11 members of Congress), 500 local businesses, and over 200 police officers, firefighters, bus drivers, school teachers, and hospital workers, to call for the plant's closure, criticizing, among other things, its allegedly unworkable emergency plan.

Some environmental activists feel the lack of greenhouse gases emitted during nuclear power generation outweighs the alleged security risks. On February 23, 2007, Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore wrote an opinion piece in the New York Post in favor of keeping Indian Point open, saying: "I strongly support renewal of the license for the Indian Point nuclear plants in Westchester, which provides 30 percent or so of the electricity used in the New York metro area."[9]

Media coverage

  • HBO aired a television dramatization surrounding the controversy called Indian Point: Imagining The Unimaginable. [1] It first aired on September 9th, 2004, and was directed by Rory Kennedy. Ms. Kennedy is the sister of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Mr. Kennedy is the legal consul for the anti-nuclear group Riverkeeper.[2]

Recent events

In September of 2006, the Security Department successfully completed Force-on-Force exercises for the NRC.

A test of the plant's alert sirens was held on September 13, 2006, with 154 of 156 sirens operating properly. Of the two failures--both in Rockland County--one siren sounded but did not rotate, and the other experienced a transmitter failure. Entergy replaced the current sirens with a $10 million high-tech warning system, scheduled for early-2007 - however, it missed the tagret date and the NRC proposed a $130,000 fine.[10]

A fire occurred in a nonnuclear part of the facility, outside in the transformer yard on April 6, 2007. One of the two main transformers for Unit 3 experienced a failure. Transformer failures of this type are usually characterized by a low order explosion and a subsequent fire. There were no injuries and the plant's own fire brigade extinguished the fire.[11]

On May 30th 2007, the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station in Plymouth, Mass., another plant owned and operated by the Entergy Corporation, accidentally faxed radiological advisories for the communities surrounding Indian Point in a test of its security systems. The reports were quickly dismissed due to lack of vital information, but Andrew Sutton, Westchester county's commissioner of emergency services expressed concern over the situation: "Let's face it, if it had a little more information on it and it had come at 3 a.m., these things can take on a life of their own." [12]

In literature

The book Night Siege, by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, details an infamous incident where UFOs flew over the plant and purports that a massive cover-up was done such as at Roswell in 1947. Many however, contend that there is no credible evidence of UFOs from extra-terrestrial locations.

References

  1. ^ NRC press release on licensing
  2. ^ http://www.nucleartourist.com/us/nyc.htm accessed May 10, 2007
  3. ^ U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/power-reactor/indian-point-unit-1.html Accessed May 10, 2007
  4. ^ Edwin S. Lyman, PhD (September 2004). "Chernobyl on the Hudson?: The Health and Economic Impacts of a Terrorist Attack at the Indian Point Nuclear Plant". Union of Concerned Scientists.
  5. ^ Allen Lutins (January 23, 2006). "U.S. Nuclear Accidents". Retrieved December 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "NRC Information Notice 2000-09".
  7. ^ Paul Thompson; et al. (December 27, 2006). "Complete 911 Timeline". Cooperative Research. Retrieved December 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Randal C. Archibold & Matthew L. Wald (July 26, 2003). "U.S. Approves Evacuation Plan For Indian Point Nuclear Plant". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Patrick Moore (February 23, 2007). "Nuclear & Green: Indian Point An Enviro Plus". New York Post.
  10. ^ NRC press release on sirens
  11. ^ "Fire Breaks Out At Indian Fire Nuclear Plant". CBS News. April 6, 2007.
  12. ^ "Mass. power plant inadvertantly sends alerts to Hudson Valley". The Journal News. May 31, 2007.

See also

External links

Template:Geolinks-US-photo

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