Indian Point Nuclear plant : Questions About Exemptions From Fire Safety Standards
Indian Point’s recent history of problems. This was the third transformer failure in the last eight years. In two of the three cases, the transformers themselves were brand-spanking-new, as far as transformers go. The one that caught fire in 2007 was original to site, and had been running since the mid-1970s. But the transformer that exploded in 2010 had just been installed four years prior, in 2006. And the fire on Saturday was sparked by a transformer placed in service in 2007; it was just eight years old. When transformers are built to last 30 to 40 years, these failures are becoming a big, unexplained problem.
To add to the conundrum, the electrical system of the transformer that burned on Saturday had been inspected just two months prior, in March.
Entergy is currently working through a painstaking process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to relicense the 40-year-old plant for another 20 years of operation. Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office, along with environmental groups like Riverkeeper, have submitted a number of petitions asking the NRC to amend the relicensing process. Currently, only “passive” components of the plant are required to be reviewed during relicensing, and the plant’s two transformers, which are classified as “active” components, are exempt
For the past seven years, former 14-term New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky has been litigating over a different gripe about the plant: Certain parts of Indian Point’s fire safety mechanisms have been exempted from nationwide nuclear fire safety rules.
http://www.newsweek.com/indian-point-fire-raises-questions-about-nuclear-plants-exemptions-fire-safety-331154