The extreme cold weather has had an impact on New York’s Indian Point nuclear power plant. Indicators for a refueling water tank were not working early Thursday, causing a temporary, partial shutdown.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan says operators at Indian Point Unit 3 discovered that the two sets of low-low water level indicators, or alarms, for the plant’s refueling water storage tank were not functioning. He says the cause of the lines freezing was a failed strip heater.
“The good news is the company was able to identify this quickly, get one of those lines unfrozen, and restore the alarm capabilities,” says Sheehan.
He says the Buchanan-based plant has within seven days to restore the other alarm or else the unit would have to be shut down. Sheehan points out the issue is a matter of safety, as water would be pumped from the storage tank into the reactor coolant system if there were an accident.
