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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406

NRC Returns to Normal Level of Oversight Following Exit from 'Alert' at Indian Point 2 Nuclear Power Plant

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is returning to its normal level of oversight for the Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant in Buchanan, N.Y., following the facility's exit from a "Alert" declared there on Tuesday by its operator, Consolidated Edison Company of New York.

An "Alert" is the second-lowest emergency action level in the NRC-required emergency response plan for nuclear power plants.

Consolidated Edison workers have stabilized the plant, which was manually shut down at 7:29 p.m. Tuesday following indications of a steam generator tube leak in one of the plant's four steam generators. The steam generators are components that transfer heat from the reactor systems to the power-generating portion of a nuclear power plant. Plant safety systems performed as designed during the shutdown.

In addition to notifying the NRC of the event in accordance with pre-established emergency plans, Consolidated Edison notified designated state and local government officials, who responded to the event.

The company exited the Alert at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday, when the reactor coolant system was depressurized and cooled down, placing the plant in a state called "cold shutdown."

Consolidated Edison workers have performed radiological surveys on and off the plant site, located about 40 miles north of New York City, and have detected no radioactivity above normal background conditions. There may have been brief releases from the plant, but assessments at this point indicate that any releases were far below allowable limits and would not pose any threat to public health or safety. The company plans to continue to perform radiological surveys.

NRC monitored the situation continuously through the night Tuesday and all day Wednesday. Agency inspectors at the site followed events, and safety specialists monitored conditions from incident response centers in the Philadelphia-area Region I Office and NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Md., throughout the Alert period.

The NRC will continue to oversee Consolidated Edison's response to the event through inspectors on site. The agency will also determine in the next several days the appropriate level of follow-up response.

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