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PATH Foundation NY visits Entergy's Indian Point Energy Center

Our team took a trip to the nuclear power plant that supplies about 20%-30% (depending on the time of day) of our city's electricity and were given a very comprehensive tour. 

During our visit to this facility, we were able to get a much better understanding of how nuclear energy works and why it isn't as scary as previously believed. Without a doubt, there should be serious radiation exposure guidelines and precautions, but from what we could tell, Indian Point's activity does not pose a risk to the health or safety of either the plant personnel or the surrounding general public. 

Many thanks to Mr. Patrick Falciano, our tour guide, who was able to give us a very thorough and informed explanation of how the plant operates. He has 42 years of experience in nuclear energy and started the tour outreach program at Entergy in 2003. Although he retired in 2007, he still acts as a "consultant" for Entergy and continues to guide tours. 

Although Indian Point Energy Center was one of the first nuclear power plants (a few had been previously developed by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army) in the United States its operation seemed to be tidy and very well organized . It is composed of three units, one only partially in operation, but we toured almost all of the facility. 

Below is a diagram that is nearly identical to the structure of Indian Point Reactors 2 and 3.  This demonstrates how the reactor is made up of three separate systems; Primary System (shown in red), Secondary System (shown in green), and the Condenser System (shown in light blue).  Radioactive particles do not leave the primary system. There have been claims that nuclear radiation could possibly be "leaking" into the Hudson, but you can see below that not only would the particles have to enter into the Secondary & Condenser Systems (which is not permitted at the steam generator), but they would also have to break through the barriers that keep the systems separate from the river water. 

 This is a glance at the cooling canal where the water from the river is cycled through to cool down the systems. Even thought the water reaches 600° Fahrenheit (the high pressure allows the water to be heated without boiling) in the steam generator, the canal temperature is only 13°-17° warmer than the river. The extreme temperatures are only reached inside the Primary System in the Containment Building. 

Above are the turbines of the Secondary System for Indian Point 2.

Carmen Queral and Raquel Lohmann pose with the large turbines. Below is a glance at one of the turbine's internal temperature (138° Fahrenheit)

Below is a picture of the pool where the spent rods are kept. 

Our PATH Foundation NY team posed with our tour guide, Pat Falciano. We are standing in the training room where an exact replica of the actual command center serves as one of the many tools to prepare Indian Point workers for the field. 

We have every intention of continuing our studies on radiation exposure, so we will keep you up to date on new findings of this topic. We understand that the information we gathered from this trip could have been accompanied by some partiality and will be fact-checking all the claims made to the best of our ability. Our conclusion at this point is that nuclear energy is an extremely clean alternative to coal and oil. As with all things, safety is of primary importance and a focus should be made on proper maintenance of nuclear reactors and predicting unintended events/conditions.

For more information on how the nuclear plant actually supplies energy, follow this link for a great, informative article. 
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power.htm