May 18 (Reuters) - Entergy Corp returned its 1,035-megawatt Indian Point 3 reactor in New York to service on Thursday after the unit was shut down for refueling in March, the company said in a statement.

It was the second-to-last refueling outage at Unit 3 before it is scheduled to be shut down permanently by April 30, 2021, under a settlement with New York State, the company said.

The 40-plus-year-old Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, New York, will be shut because of concerns for the safety of millions of New Yorkers. Meanwhile, Unit 2, which remains in service at full power, will undergo its final refueling and maintenance outage next spring before it is permanently shut down by April 30, 2020, Entergy said.

The nuclear plant, combining Units 2 and 3, produces about 2,069 megawatts of electricity, enough to meet 25 percent of the power used by New York City and adjacent Westchester County.

For a timeline on Entergy Indian Point nuclear plant, see: (Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Matthew Lewis)