Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues renewed operating licenses for Indian Point

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued Monday renewed operating licenses for the two operating units at Indian Point Energy Center, Units 2 and 3, located in Buchanan, New York.

Entergy, the owner of the plant, applied for the licenses in April 2007.

“The issuance of these renewed licenses is the culmination of thousands of hours of work by hundreds of nuclear professionals at Indian Point and across our nuclear fleet and company,” Chris Bakken, Entergy’s chief nuclear officer, said. “Indian Point is one of the most reliable electricity generating plants in New York State, and it repeatedly has been determined to be safely and securely operated.”

The renewed licenses permit Unit 2 to operate until April 30, 2024 and Unit 3 to operate until April 30, 2025.

However, Unit 2 is still scheduled to shut down by April 30, 2020, and Unit 3 is scheduled to shut down by April 30, 2021 in accordance with a 2017 settlement agreement between Entergy and New York State. Entergy cited sustained, lower wholesale power prices as the primary factor in its decision to enter into the settlement agreement and shut down the Indian Point units.

The renewed licenses are intended to allow for limited, continued operations of one or both units in the case of unexpected and severe disruptions of the regional electric grid. Entergy does not expect that either unit will run beyond its scheduled shutdown in 2020 and 2021.

Entergy filed a Notification of Permanent Cessation of Power Operations with the NRC in February 2017. The company completed the final refueling and maintenance outage of Unit 2 in April and will conduct the final refueling and maintenance outage at Unit 3 in the spring of 2019.