Indian Point's Unit 3 reactor shut down manually

Entergy Corp. said on Wednesday that Unit 3 at the Indian Point Energy Center has been manually shut down after operators noticed fluctuating water levels inside a steam generator.

The company said operators shut down the reactor after it was apparent that one of the condensate pumps, which is part of the system that feeds water into the steam generators, had shut down automatically while the reactor was at full operational capacity.

The Unit 2 reactor is online, and operators said it is functioning normally. They also said all equipment responded properly and that the Unit 3 was safely shut down.

The Poughkeepsie Journal said the Indian Point power plant provides Westchester County and New York City with approximately 25 percent of its electricity. Operators did not indicate a timetable for when repairs would be completed and when the unit will be brought back online. This incident follows recent shutdowns in May and June.

Entergy said the pumps are not located near the nuclear portion of the facility and that their purpose is to bring water into the steam generators of the plant.

The Indian Point Energy Center is located in Buchanan, New York, and houses two operating nuclear reactors. When both are functioning at full capacity, they generate approximately 2,000 megawatts of electricity.