Con Edison insisted the leakage was a necessary part of restarting the plant, claiming "at no time" was there a threat to "the health of the public or our workers." They insisted that full power was expected to be produced by the plant within a week.

Meanwhile, Westchester County executive Andrew Spano and Senator Charles Schumer spoke out against the utility's moves to restart this plant right now. They called for a "pause" to allow an inspection by an independent panel of "industry experts and local officials," according to the New York Times

Last February 15, in what the Times described as "the worst accident in the plant's 26-year history," a steam generator tube that had been corroding from the inside burst open. Superheated radioactive water leaked inside the plant and some radioactive steam also escaped into the atmosphere.

A report issued last August by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspection team "preliminarily concluded" that Con Edison failed to "adequately account for conditions which adversely affected the detectability of, and created increased susceptibility to steam generator tube flaws." The inspectors said, that "these failures resulted in tubes with flaws being left in service following the 1997 inspection, until one of these tubes failed in February."

The Indian Point 2 nuclear plant purchased replacements for its four steam generators in the 1980s, but decided it was too expensive to install them anytime soon. Instead they planned for the work to be done in 2002 or 2004, reported NRC spokesperson Neil Sheehan.

"Rather than embarking on what would have been a multimillion-dollar replacement project, Con Ed chose a novel method to extend the aging generators' years," stated an article in the Daily News last February. "The technique, which involved lowering water temperature and pressure to preserve the equipment, was unique to Indian Point," the paper quotes Con Ed vice president Steve Quinn as saying at the time.

According to a November 20 NRC news release, the commission staff cited Consolidated Edison for violating NRC's requirements for steam generator tube inspections at the Indian Point 2 plant. "The NRC has determined that the conditions associated with the violation were of high safety significance," stated the release.

Nonetheless, the NRC gave the go ahead for once again restarting this aging plant over the December 30-31 weekend.

In November during the shutdown Con Edison announced a deal to sell the two Indian Point nuclear power plants for $602 million to a private company--Entergy Nuclear of Jackson, Mississippi. The Times reported December 30, "A condition of the sale is that the plant must be operating fully." Also included in the deal is Indian Point 1, which has been mothballed since the early 1970s.

Meanwhile, the New York State legislature in August passed a law ordering Con Edison to refund $100 million in higher charges that consumers paid the utility for replacement power after the no. 2 plant was shut down. This law was overturned in federal court in October, and the state is now appealing this ruling.  
 
 
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