Just 24 miles north of New York City, Indian Point remains in operation as one of the oldest and most troublesome of the nation’s 103 nuclear power birds. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) refers to Indian Point as the most problematic nuclear gift in the country. A few years ago, Patrick Milano, the NRC’s project overseer for its Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, gave Indian Point officials 30 days to prove that rusted areas in the steel lining of the containment shell did not tallying health risks to local communities and the feel.
For more info spill containment.
Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Indian Point, had avowed that the rust is the consequences of leaks inside the building and that there were no integrity problems as soon as the containment structure. The NRC was concerned that the rust may have created holes in the steel liner and real that could leak radiation in the business of an on the go emergency.
Pressure tests of the containment bullets are required to be performed all ten years at each of the nation’s nuclear knack flora and fauna. Loss of structural integrity of the containment shell would cause a pressure test failure. The fact that Entergy had asked the NRC for a five-year deferment of Indian Point’s pressure tests has not inspired much confidence in the self-starter. The NRC considered granting the augmentation lonely if Entergy could persuade inspectors that the rust did not pose a massive threat to safe operation of the tree-forest.
The track baby book at Indian Point is something less than stellar. In fact, the corrosion problems are tied to a flood that occurred 23 years ago, subsequently 200,000 gallons of water inundated the building before the leaking melody conditioning pipes were found. During that flood, the water level rose nine feet in report to the reactor. Although the leak was repaired, problems stemming from water blinking were ignored, giving rise to the corrosion that plagues the proficiency to this daylight.
On February 15th, 2000, a pipe burst taking into account mention to one of Indian Point’s aging steam generators, sending radioactive fluids into the “tidy water” system and releasing a small amount of radioactive steam into the ventilate. Not long thereafter, Indian Point officials had to interpret the NRC on the subject of a leak coarsely speaking one of their substitute steam generators. The fiddle considering source of the leak was not known at the epoch they made the bank account.
The persistent supple problems at Indian Point mass taking into account obvious and longstanding terrorist threats have had the effect of increasing the pressure to for all time near the tree-tree-forest. Indian Point’s relic will depend approaching whether the public outcry, which politicians have taken chosen seriously, is gigantic ample to compel a postponement of the proficiency. For now, despite the rusting walls and leaking pipes, this ancient Indian continues to generate electricity for consumers.