Explosion closes Indian Point nuclear power plant near New York City; no danger of radiation leak

BY Bill Hutchinson
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A transformer explosion prompted the automatic shutdown of one of the two units at the Indian Point nuclear power plant on Sunday night.

Officials at the Buchanan plant immediately declared an alert after the 6:39 p.m. emergency but said the warning was only precautionary.

"Apparently, there was an explosion, but no fire to speak of," said James Steets, a spokesman for Entergy Corp., which owns the plant.

"Nobody has been hurt. The plant is in a safe condition," Steets said.

He said the explosion occurred in the main transformer of Unit 2, the older of the center's two plants. Steets said there was no danger of a radiation leak at the sprawling energy center 24 miles north of New York City.

The alert was called off at 10:18 p.m. after an inspection of the plant and the blown transformer.

It was not immediately clear what caused the transformer explosion. Steets said Unit 2 would remain shut down while the incident is investigated. "The plant responded as designed," said Steets, explaining the automatic shutdown.

Unit 3 remained online and operating at full power last night, the company said.