FirstEnergy claim has NRC fuming--Nuke operator risks license over answers on Davis-Besse

[Kolesar]

Utility's claim has NRC fuming--FirstEnergy risks license over answers to reversal on Davis-Besse

Federal regulators are demanding to know why FirstEnergy Corp. no longer considers itself to blame for a rust hole that nearly caused a catastrophic accident at the Davis-Besse nuclear reactor five years ago.

In an unusually blunt letter Monday to FirstEnergy Chief Executive Anthony Alexander, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission required the utility to explain, under oath, the basis for its recent assertions that it couldn't have foreseen or prevented the extensive corrosion damage at its Toledo-area plant.

That position is at odds with FirstEnergy's previous admissions of responsibility.
...

If the NRC isn't satisfied with FirstEnergy's answers, the punishment could be as severe as revoking the utility's licenses to operate Davis-Besse and its two other nuclear plants -- the Perry reactor near Painesville and the Beaver Valley facility in western Pennsylvania. Other options include suspending or restricting those licenses.
...

The pineapple-size rust hole that formed in the steel lid of Davis-Besse's highly pressurized reactor brought the plant close to disaster until its accidental discovery in February 2002.

Until recently, FirstEnergy had said the hole took more than four years to form, as corrosive coolant gradually leaked from cracked components on the lid. The utility repeatedly took blame for its workers' multiple failures to recognize signs of the corrosion and for not doing thorough inspections that could have revealed the problem much earlier.
...

The utility is fighting to collect a $200 million payment to compensate for the damage at Davis-Besse. Two consultants hired by FirstEnergy concluded in December that the utility shouldn't be held responsible for the corrosion at Davis-Besse. "This event was totally unexpected, unanticipated and unforeseeable," one of the consulting firms reported. Its engineers determined the rust hole formed in four months, not the four years that the utility, the NRC and many corrosion experts previously had accepted.
...

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter, John Mangels:

[email protected], 216-999-4842

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1179304817106960.xml&coll=2

edit: Previous thread on Union of Concerned Scientists' busting FE on the same contradiction at Davis Besse: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=94966

[jpak]

1. Kick

n/t

[bananas]

2. and near the end of the article....

<snip>

FirstEnergy's declarations of innocence also seem at variance with the terms of the plea deal the utility struck with the Justice Department in 2005.

That deal required FirstEnergy and its agents not to contradict the agreed-upon facts, which included an admission of the utility's years of failure to control corrosion at Davis-Besse. The Justice Department could prosecute FirstEnergy for violating the deal.

<snip>

[AndyTiedye]

4. Bet They Know They Won't Be Prosecuted No Matter What

Pretty likely that the US attorney has been told to lay off FirstEnergy.

[Kolesar]

3. Toledo Blade--Reactor owner in hot water with NRC

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWS06/705150376/-1/NEWS

The article covers a lot of the same material, and also the continuing story of the three "Fall Guys" involved in the cover up:
...

The NRC's demand comes as the agency is trying to respond to a demand itself from U.S. District Court Judge David Katz in Toledo, who is presiding over the criminal cases of two former Davis-Besse engineers and a longtime contractor associated with the plant near Oak Harbor, Ohio.

All three face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted this fall of withholding information about the plant's dangerous condition in the fall of 2001.

Judge Katz told Justice Department attorneys April 20 he needs to know if the 661-page report is "junk science" before he lets the government proceed with its case against the three defendants.

Mr. Burnell said the NRC's next move will be based on how FirstEnergy responds.

David Lochbaum, a former Westinghouse employee and longtime nuclear safety engineer for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the NRC's strategy of shifting the onus over to FirstEnergy was appropriate.

"The NRC's not an insurance scam regulator," Mr. Lochbaum said. "We have some questions about that <661-page> report and what the company's trying to do with it."
...

[Kolesar]

5. One more recommendation would put this on the greatest page...eom

[Throckmorton]

6. We replaced our entire reactor head 2 years ago

Millstone II replaced its head because it was cheaper and safer than the testing regimen required every refueling outage for reactor heads of its vintage. A phenomenon call Pure Water Stress Corrosion Crack has a very bad effect on Alloy 600 Stainless Steel.