Indian Point reactor to operate after license expires NRC: Expired license won't halt Indian Point
TARRYTOWN — One of Indian Point’s two nuclear reactors soon will become the first in the country to operate with an expired license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Top officials from the regulatory body overseeing the nation’s 104 nuclear reactors said Monday the situation resulted from both a complicated license-renewal process and an agency order postponing such renewals. Indian Point 2’s 40-year license expires on Sept. 28, at least a year before any decision will be made on whether to extend it for 20 years, NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said.
But because Entergy Nuclear, its owner, filed for renewal more than five years before the expiration date, the reactor can keep operating until that decision comes, Dean said. He will tour Indian Point in Buchanan on Tuesday and, along with other NRC staff, hold a public meeting that evening in Tarrytown about the plant’s 2012 annual safety assessment. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel, 455 S. Broadway.
Both Indian Point 2 and 3 received a green rating for 2012, which means the inspection findings were considered of “very low safety significance.” The ratings are based on 11,400 hours of inspections. “Our inspectors look at everything. So if there are issues, we’re going to identify them in the first 40 years or afterwards,” said Arthur Burritt, the NRC branch chief responsible for inspections.
Indian Point received the same safety rating in 2011. But the plant has long been a target of criticism from environmental groups and others because of its location in a densely populated area. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office is a major player in the renewal process and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called for Indian Point’s closure
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