FirstEnergy Corp. should know by year’s end if the structural integrity of Davis-Besse’s reactor shield building will have to be defended at a trial-like setting in 2015 for the utility to move forward with its plans for a 20-year extension of the nuclear plant’s operating license.
A three-judge Nuclear Regulatory Commission administrative panel, which met in Rockville, Md., quizzed attorneys for the utility, the regulatory agency, and a coalition of four opposition groups for six hours on Wednesday, trying to decide if there’s enough evidence for a bigger and more formal adjudicatory hearing.
William Froehlich, the panel’s chairman, ended the session by stating the judges would stick to their plan for announcing a decision within 45 days. Reporters and members of the public were able to listen to the proceedings.
Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don’t Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio have collectively petitioned the judicial panel for a hearing on the grounds that the recent cracks identified in the concrete-and-metal shield building, divulged by FirstEnergy earlier this year, are new and different from ones the utility discovered in 2011.
Their attorney, Terry Lodge, of Toledo said the cracks calls into question the structural integrity of the building, which was built in the 1970s to protect the nuclear reactor from external threats, such as tornadoes, aircraft, and large projectiles such as telephone poles and automobiles thrown by tornadoes, .
Although the building was constructed along Lake Erie, it did not have weather sealant applied for its first 35 years. FirstEnergy applied sealant in 2012 after the initial discovery of cracks, which were blamed on unusually harsh conditions brought on by the blizzard of 1978.
Mr. Lodge said the discovery of additional cracks since the sealant was applied suggests the sealant isn’t working and the problem has gotten worse.
The NRC needs assurances the structure will maintain its integrity if it issues a 20-year extension to Davis-Besse’s operating license, scheduled to expire April 22, 2017.
The agency has issued license extensions to 75 of America’s 100 nuclear plants, turning away none.
“It’s difficult, if not impossible, to conclude the cracking has stopped. We can’t be assured it won’t worsen over time,” Mr. Lodge told the panel.
Timothy Matthews of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a Washington law firm representing FirstEnergy, said the activists have failed to show the cracks are substantial enough to delay the process.
At one point, after extensive grilling by judges, Mr. Matthews told the panel he had concerns the hearing had been expanded beyond its original scope and was including more information than the utility’s team of lawyers expected to divulge.
NRC attorneys, headed by Catherine Kanatas, concurred with FirstEnergy’s assertion that the points raised by activists are not relevant and should be dismissed.
FirstEnergy Corp. was expecting a 20-year extension this fall. The NRC’s staff agreed months ago all major obstacles had been resolved.
Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.
First Published November 13, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
