WKSU News: NRC and company will say why shield cracks were not a big enough concern to stall the restart

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 NRC and company will say why shield cracks were not a big enough concern to stall the restart NRC and company will say why shield cracks were not a big enough concern to stall the restart by WKSU's KABIR BHATIA and MARANDA SHREWSBERRY	Reporter Kabir Bhatia

Davis Besse's outer shell has developed hairline cracks, which the NRC will address at a meeting Thursday.

In The Region:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will let the public ask questions Thursday about why it allowed FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse nuclear plant to restart. WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia has more on questions raised by cracks found in the outer shell of the plant.

Bhatia: Meeting will focus on cracks in a concrete shiefl

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In October, workers found hairline cracks in the concrete wall that protects the reactor from outside forces.

A team of specialists from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigated the cracks and cleared the plant to restart in early December. But that didn’t calm critics, including Congressman Dennis Kucinich who claimed the cracks could worsen and threaten the safety of the plant.

Commission spokeswoman Prema Chandrathil says the meeting is to allow the commission and the plant owner, FirstEnergy, to respond to those concerns.

But she acknowledges the cause of the cracks has not yet been determined.

“The utility needs to go ahead and continue to do further monitoring to go ahead and see if the cracks are going to change over the next period before and during the next refueling outage. And then they need to go ahead and develop a root cause. And then they’ll also need to develop a long-term monitoring plan to see if and how these cracks are going to change, how that could potentially impact the building.”

The meeting is at the Camp Perry Clubhouse in Port Clinton. At 6 p.m., the public can speak to regulators one-on-one. FirstEnergy and the Commission will present their findings beginning at 6:30.

The meeting:
Thursday, Jan. 5, 6:30 to -9:30 p.m.
Camp Perry Clubhouse
1000 Lawrence Rd., Bldg. 600
Port Clinton, Ohio

The meeting will be open for the public to ask questions after the presentations have been made. People can participate in person or by calling the toll-free teleconference number 800-369-1122 and entering passcode 7687149.

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