The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cited Entergy for its failure to minimize introduction of residual radioactivity into subsurface groundwater at the Indian Point Energy Center.
The NRC notified the utility of the violation, an issue the regulator regarded as “very low safety significance,” in a Jan. 17 letter, which was made public Wednesday. The citation describes two examples of Entergy’s failure to properly address residual radioactive intrusion.
Entergy announced earlier this month that it was closing the Indian Point Energy Center by 2021, citing declining revenue and increased operating costs at the New York nuclear plant.
According to the NRC, the violation is similar to two previous violations in 2014 and 2015, which Entergy was not cited for, involving groundwater contamination. The letter says that corrective actions Entergy implemented for the violations were “insufficiently broad” in addressing Entergy’s “ineffective floor drain and radioactive liquid draining operational controls.”
The regulator said that in both instances, the groundwater contamination resulted from poor floor drain management. The first occurred in January 2016, when multiple floor drain obstructions caused spills and the backup of contaminated water onto the floor of a 35-foot elevation in the primary auxiliary building, and the subfloor of Unit 2’s fuel storage building, the latter resulting in leakage to onsite groundwater. The second event occurred in June 2016, when an obstruction in a floor drain of the fuel storage building caused a spill to the subfloor and groundwater contamination.
“The issue is more than minor because it is associated with the Program and Process attribute of the Public Radiation Safety cornerstone and adversely affected the cornerstone objective to ensure Entergy’s ability to prevent inadvertent release and/or loss of control of licensed material to an unrestricted area due to the actual contamination of groundwater that occurred,” the NRC report reads. “The finding was determined to be of very low safety significance (Green) because Entergy had an issue involving radioactive material control but did not involve transportation or public exposure in excess of 0.005 Rem.”
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan wrote in an email Thursday that the company is required to respond to the notice of violation in writing, as well as provide a comprehensive corrective action plan, explain the reason for the violation, and determine a date for when full compliance will be achieved.
“In terms of public health and safety impacts, we do not believe there are any,” Sheehan wrote. “Any contamination reaching the river would be virtually impossible to detect because of the dilution that would occur because of the large volumes of water there.”
He noted that Entergy has already corrected several drainage issues and is considering additional long-term action to prevent recurrence.
Entergy spokeswoman Patricia Kakridas wrote in an email Thursday: “Any unmonitored leak or spill of potentially contaminated water is not accordance with our standards, and we work hard to prevent any recurrence. We have learned from the groundwater issue and are hardening the site against potential future releases that could reach groundwater. This hardening includes adding permanent connections for filtering refueling water, eliminating temporary connections, and resealing and re-grouting of floors and seismic gaps to reduce the opportunity for water to reach the ground.”
