Safety
A Commitment to Safety
Maintaining the Highest Safety Standards at Indian Point
Our first priority at Indian Point Energy Center is to operate our nuclear facilities safely. Operation of the Indian Point nuclear facilities is marked by a cautious approach, questioning attitude and conservative decision-making.
Personnel Safety
Control room operators
conduct regular testing.
Our personnel receive more job-related training than most other industries. Even after undergoing extensive training prior to assuming their plant responsibilities, reactor operators receive one week of additional training for every six weeks they are on the job to ensure they maintain their top notch operational capabilities. Operators follow explicit, detailed procedures that have been extensively reviewed to assure safe operation. Preventative maintenance is frequently conducted on our equipment.
Physical Safety of Our Assets
In addition to the extensive operational training, the containment structures at Indian Point were designed with multiple safety systems and components – first to prevent accidents, and second, to minimize the effect of any accidents that do occur.
There are several components on site that help us ensure our safety and the safety of our neighbors.
Containment Structure
Structural safety is another intrinsic element to ensure the continued safe operation of the plant. The containment structure around the reactor provides multiple physical layers of protection. The plants are among the strongest structures built by man. In fact, the containment building has three primary layers of safety built in.
- Nuclear fuel: The fuel itself is actually designed to contain the radioactive gases generated during the fission process.
- Reactor coolant system: Within the system there are multiple cooling capabilities, each with back up systems in place to ensure the cooling process continues without interruption.
- Primary containment structure: this consists of a one-inch thick steel wall surrounded by a wall of steel reinforced concrete five feet thick. This can ensure that radioactivity is contained even in the most serious situations.
Multiple instruments continually monitor plant functions to alert operators and even automatically shut down the plant if readings vary from their normal ranges. The plant itself can be shut down and the nuclear fission process stopped in less than 2 seconds. In fact, the plant will shut down automatically if even one safety component malfunctions.
In addition to strong containment and abundant supplementary safety systems, the backup safety layers include employees who are highly trained and skilled in both foreseeable and unforeseeable accident and event response, and comprehensive emergency plans with frequent drills involving all plant staff.
In fact, Three Mile Island is a perfect example of how well all of these components work together. Studies conducted by the University of Pennsylvania both 10 and 20 years following the 1979 incident show there were no adverse health affects from the event, further supporting the claim that the safety systems worked as they should have.
Safe from the Inside Out
One of the biggest myths regarding nuclear power – and unnecessary cause of concern – is that the plants can explode. This is a scientific impossibility.
Fuel for nuclear plant uranium is mined from the earth and then goes through the process of “enrichment.” Derived from that process are Uranium-235 (which makes up approximately 4% of nuclear fuel used at a commercial facility) and uranium-238 (which makes up the other 96% of the fuel). In order to have an explosion, unranuim-235 must make up nearly 100% of the fuel. Scientifically speaking, an explosion at a nuclear facility in the U.S. would counter the laws of physics.
Spent Fuel Pools
There are also several measures in place to protect each of the spent fuel pools at Indian Point. Once removed from the reactor core, the fuel rods which hold the radioactive isotopes are transferred under water to the spent fuel pool. The fuel assemblies, or fuel rods, rest in a pool of water approximately 40 feet deep to help cool the rods. The assemblies themselves stand 13 feet tall, so there is an ample 27 feet of water on top of them. This is important because water is a natural barrier to radioactive isotopes. Internally, there are other cooling systems in place and back up systems to replenish the water supply in the event of an emergency. As long as there is water covering the spent fuel, no radioactive materials will escape.
It is important to know that the fuel pool for Indian Point 2 is completely underground and Indian Point 3 is nearly 100% underground, so they are protected on all sides by rock and gravel and the 6 foot steel. External to the pools themselves, they are further protected by the containment structure on the north and west and hills to the south and east.
The fuel recently moved from IP3 remains safe in its new containment structure called dry cask. As the pools get closer to reaching capacity, we will continue to move spent fuel into these dry cask storage containers on the dry cask pad located on site.
Regulatory Oversight
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is responsible for assuring that nuclear power plants operate safely and meet federal regulations.
NRC inspectors work full-time at Indian Point, reviewing day-to-day activities and programs. Additional inspectors conduct several special inspections of specific areas and programs each year.
All changes in plant design and operation are reviewed to assure they meet safety standards and comply with NRC regulations.
All NRC inspection reports and other regulatory records are available to the public at the White Plains Public Library in Westchester County.