Indian Point, NY, Nuclear Unit Returns to Service
Date: 24-Jul-06
Country: US
Unit 3 should be at full power later Saturday, said Jim Steets, a spokesman for the plant. The unit was shut down unexpectedly Friday after sparks were seen at scaffolding in a non-nuclear part of the plant.
No injuries were reported and the nuclear power reactor was shut down without incident, said Larry Gottlieb, spokesman for Entergy.
When sparks were seen, the 991-megawatt unit 3 was shut as a precaution around 10 a.m. on Friday, said Gottlieb.
"We didn't know where the sparks were coming from so we took the conservative approach and took the unit offline," Gottlieb added.
Indian Point has another nuclear reactor unit, number 2, which continued to operate at full power.
Indian Point is in Buchanan in Westchester County and is about 45 miles north of Manhattan.
With summer demand at its highest levels in history across the United States, all of the other 102 nuclear reactors were generating electricity on Friday, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission showed in a daily report.
Gottlieb said Entergy had gotten assurances from the power grid manager in New York, the New York Independent System Operator, that the shutdown of Indian Point did not adversely impact reliable electrical supplies. That's because temperatures in New York were cooler on Friday than earlier this week, causing less power demand.
