OAK HARBOR, Ohio — FirstEnergy Solutions’ Davis-Besse nuclear plant was taken offline Saturday so workers could repair a steam pipe on the non-nuclear side of the plant.
Although Monday’s online records listed the reactor’s operating status at zero power, FirstEnergy Corp. spokesman Jennifer Young said a restart began Sunday. She said the reactor should be back at full power soon but did not say when.
“While we don’t provide expected grid synchronization times for competitive reasons, the plant is expected to return to service very soon,” Ms. Young said.
There is heightened sensitivity about Davis-Besse because the corporation announced in 2018 that a refueling performed in the spring would be the plant’s last, unless a buyer or bailout emerges to save it.
FirstEnergy said last year the plant will be shut down for good by May 31, 2020 if no deal is worked out. None has been announced, and a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman, Viktoria Mitlyng, told The Blade on Monday the regulatory agency has not received any paperwork suggesting a deal is in the works.
“Nothing required them to shut down [for the repair],” Ms. Mitlyng said. “It’s something they chose to do on their own.”
Ms. Young said it was for safety reasons because a weld repair was being done to piping that moves hot steam.
“To safely perform the weld overlay, steam had to be removed and the pipe cooled a bit to permit the work,” she said.
FirstEnergy planned for a short maintenance outage when it identified the need to repair piping that carries non-radioactive steam to the main generator last week. The piping and the series of generators used to produce electricity are in a building near the reactor but separate from it.
The plant was taken offline at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Ms. Young said.
The NRC has had its resident inspectors observing the shutdown, repair, and restart, Ms. Mitlyng said.
“This was not an emergency or a scram,” Ms. Young said. “Maintenance staff noted indications of a weak weld during routine plant work last week. The decision was made to proactively take the plant offline and perform a weld overlay before there was an impact on plant operations.”
Davis-Besse is Ottawa County’s largest employer, with about 700 full-time workers and dozens of contractors. It is along the Lake Erie shoreline, about 30 miles east of downtown Toledo.
First Published January 14, 2019, 7:42 p.m.
