[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
congressional hearing focuses on DB repairs
Paul Blanch wrote:
> Congressional briefing focuses on Davis-Besse repairs
> 10/25/02
> John Funk
> Plain Dealer Reporter
> The FirstEnergy Corp. managers and engineers at the Davis-Besse nuclear
> power plant would have been thrown off a nuclear-powered naval ship, a
> lawyer for the company said yesterday.
> The admission came under questioning by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich during
> a two-hour congressional briefing on Davis-Besse held in Cleveland City
> Council chambers. Davis-Besse's staff allowed the plant to develop -
> over many years - a large, dangerous corrosion hole in the reactor lid.
> "What would Adm. Rickover have done?" Kucinich asked lawyer and engineer
> George Edgar, a partner in a powerful Washington, D.C., law firm and a
> former staffer for the late Adm. Hyman Rickover, who is considered the
> "father" of the nuclear navy.
> "Would they have been on his ship?" Kucinich demanded after Edgar said
> the managers "failed to connect the dots" of evidence indicating the lid
> was actively rusting.
> "No," replied Edgar.
> Kucinich grilled Edgar and Jack Grobe, the chairman of a special
> committee established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to oversee
> the company's efforts to restore the reactor and improve its management
> and staff.
> The plant must also increase its focus on safety.
> Kucinich said the two-hour session was just the first of many he will
> hold on the plant. The congressman kept the tone of the conference
> low-key even as he asked tough questions about how the plant got into
> such a mess and why the agency did not shut it down last fall when
> trouble was suspected.
> FirstEnergy shut down Davis-Besse in February for refueling and an
> NRC-mandated inspection for cracks in nozzle-like tubes that pass
> through the reactor's lid. Inspectors in March found the cracks - and
> the rust hole created by boric acid-laced coolant that had escaped
> through the cracks.
> FirstEnergy hopes to restart the reactor early next year, but the
> company must first convince the NRC it can operate it safely.
> Also participating in the briefing were Paul Gunter of the Nuclear
> Information and Resource Service, a nuclear watchdog group, and
> perennial Davis-Besse critic and lawyer Howard Whitcomb, a former
> preventive maintenance manager at the plant, former NRC inspector and
> still an Oak Harbor resident near the plant, which is near Toledo.
> "I was trained by Adm. Rickover and served in the submarine service,"
> Whitcomb said. "Personal accountability is absolutely fundamental. Harsh
> consequences for those who fail to comply is an absolute must."
> FirstEnergy and every other utility that operates commercial reactors
> ought to have expectations similar to those of the military, he said, if
> the industry and government expect the public to trust them.
> The rust did more than eat a hole in the reactor lid, joined in Gunter.
> It ate a hole in the public's confidence both in FirstEnergy and in the
> NRC.
> "FirstEnergy told the NRC it had done more and better inspections than
> anyone," Gunter said, recalling the company's arguments to the agency
> last fall when it won approval to put off inspections and run until
> February. "That was false. There were 900 pounds of boric acid on top on
> the reactor head, and the top [center] had never been cleaned."
> Gunter also questioned how the NRC's top officials could have put aside
> a shutdown order last November that the agency's staff spent months
> preparing because they were convinced Davis-Besse's lid had leaking
> nozzles.
> "The question is whether the NRC is willing to step in when its
> regulations are violated," he said. "If it means revoking of [plant
> operating] licenses for mismanagement, then so be it."
> The NRC's Grobe said the agency did not have all of the information last
> fall that investigations have since turned up. And the company did in
> fact submit "incomplete and inaccurate" information, Edgar admitted.
> "If the Davis-Besse plant does some day restart," said Grobe, the
> special NRC committee he chairs must first have confidence the
> engineering and maintenance issues have been solved and the company has
> the ability to operate it safely.
> Kucinich said the NRC's recent self-evaluation detailing how it failed
> in its oversight duties along with FirstEnergy's willingness to admit
> its bad management lead to the rust hole are positive signs that
> Davis-Besse may be able to restart and operate safely.
> To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
> jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138
>
>
>
> Paul M. Blanch
> 135 Hyde Rd.
> West Hartford, CT 06117
> Pager 800-539-1786
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
> 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now
> http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/jd3IAA/OGYolB/TM
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> DBRVH_LTBL-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
--
Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr
Ave., Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8583 or 609-601-8537;
ncohen12@comcast.net UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE:
http://www.unplugsalem.org/ COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE:
http://www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org The Coalition for Peace and
Justice is a chapter of Peace Action.
"First they ignore you; Then they laugh at you; Then they fight you;
Then you win. (Gandhi) "Why walk when you can fly?" (Mary Chapin
Carpenter)
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.
You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/