NRC initiates special inspection of Indian Point 3 Power Plant

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced Tuesday that the inspection of the Indian Point 3 Nuclear Power Plant in New York occurred on May 9 after a transformer failure.

In the announcement, the NRC states that one of the plant's transformers experienced a failure that lead to an automatic shutdown of the facility. It is unknown why the transformer failed.

"None of the electrical equipment became wet or experienced any damage or failures as a result of the water,” NRC Region I Administrator Dan Dorman said. “Nevertheless, the NRC inspectors will be tasked with gathering information on how the water accumulated in the room and the potential for impacts had there been a significantly larger volume of water."

A three-member team from the NRC inspected the Buchanan facility to report on the situation. Following the failure of the transformer, an "Unusual Event" alarm was reported at 6:01 p.m. due to a small fire. This alarm was terminated at 9:03 p.m. after it was put out.

The plant remains offline as replacement work is being completed. The NRC states that findings of the inspection team will be compiled and revealed within 45 days of the completion of the inspection procedure.