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INDIAN POINT

Lowey: Indian Point blast needs federal investigation

Ernie Garcia
elgarcia@lohud.com
  • Another violation was an empty room in Unit 2's control area with boxes of paper and equipment

U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey has called for a federal investigation of Saturday's transformer explosion at the Indian Point Energy Center that shut down one of two nuclear reactors.

Indian Point in Buchanan the day after Saturday’s transformer explosion.

Lowey said on Wednesday federal authorities should also release information on the plant's safety exemptions.

"It's outrageous that Indian Point should receive any exemptions when fires have been a recurring problem," said Lowey, a Democrat who represents Rockland and Westchester counties.

No one was injured from Saturday's explosion and fire, and no radiation was released. State officials have said they may determine how much oil was spilled into the Hudson River by the end of this week.

Unit 3, one of the reactors, shut down automatically when the fire began and remains shut down.

Three staffers from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission work at Indian Point, according to Entergy, the company that runs the facility. NRC spokeswoman Diane Screnci said those staffers are inspecting the explosion site and the NRC has no plans for a special inspection team to visit.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a press conference at Indian Point in Buchanan the day after a transformer explosion on May 10, 2015.

The 2010 transformer explosion at Unit 2, the other reactor at the plant, did not lead to a special inspection, Screnci said. The NRC has defended safety exemptions for Indian Point by saying it does not present an "undue risk to public health."

Indian Point spokesman Jerry Nappi said the plant has environmental management crews on the river that will follow clean-up orders from the Coast Guard and the state. Nappi said Lowey was mischaracterizing Indian Point's exemptions.

"A regulator may say we want to meet an objective using 'X, Y and Z.' And a plant may say 'X and Y' make sense for these reasons, but instead of 'Z' we're going to do 'A and B.' That's not an exemption, but an alternate means of accomplishing the same objective," Nappi said.

A thin sheen of oil, which runs from left to right in the calm section of water, flows pass the Haverstraw Marina in Haverstraw on May 11, 2015.

Nappi said Entergy, the NRC, energy experts and the transformer's manufacture must determine why a relatively new transformer failed after just eight years of operation.

Meanwhile, the NRC released findings Wednesday of a routine three-month inspection ending March 31 of Indian Point's Units 2 and 3 nuclear generators.

The most significant problem cited in the report was a degraded fire pipe in the Unit 2 turbine building that caused a leak and depressurization of the fire-water system. The degradation was of low safety significance because at least 50 percent of the fire water capacity remained available at the time of the leak.

Another violation was an empty room in Unit 2's control area that stored boxes of paper and office equipment. Inspectors determined it was a fire hazard. The material was removed after inspectors pointed out the problem to Indian Point's staff, according to the report.

Twitter: @ErnieJourno