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DB neighors royally p-o'd
Paul Blanch wrote:
> Davis-Besse neighbors scald NRC, FirstEnergy
>
> 11/21/02
>
> John Funk and John Mangels
> Plain Dealer Reporters
>
> Oak Harbor, Ohio - The mood was one of distrust and anger at the
> public hearing here last night about the federal government's failure
> to uncover the problems that eventually led to the rust hole in the
> lid of the Davis-Besse nuclear reactor.
>
> Though the crowd assembled in a high school auditorium numbered no
> more than 60, speaker after speaker attacked both the Nuclear
> Regulatory Commission and FirstEnergy Corp., owner of the reactor.
>
> The hearing was supposed to be the capstone to a months-long review of
> the agency by a special "lessons learned" task force of NRC staffers
> pulled from across the country. The task force last month delivered
> its own scathing criticism of how the NRC does its business.
>
> But the crowd would have none of it. The task force members themselves
> quickly became targets, even as a few FirstEnergy employees sat
> quietly in the audience.
>
> "It is time for an independent review of the Nuclear Regulatory
> Commission and Davis-Besse management," lawyer Howard Whitcomb said to
> the task force members, who lined up across the foot of the auditorium
> stage like so many paper cutouts.
>
> "This review should focus on an independent and critical assessment of
> the integrity of both the NRC and FirstEnergy management," said
> Whitcomb. He is an Oak Harbor resident and former NRC inspector.
>
> "Why wasn't there an independent review?" demanded Port Clinton
> resident Helen Spalding. She brushed aside the explanations of why the
> NRC rejected a completely independent review of the plant and instead
> created a number of special teams to oversee Davis-Besse's rebuilding
> as well as to examine the agency's problems as a regulator.
>
> Tim Dussel of Fostoria repeatedly pressed the panel members to explain
> how the agency could have missed the corrosion.
>
> "How could that be missed with all those inspections? You're talking
> about hundreds of people's lives here," he said. "No one is being held
> accountable for anything.
>
> There's been many questions asked and no answers. You guys wishy wash
> around, and there's no answers. Many of us want to ask questions of
> FirstEnergy. People here feel you are a buffer between the two."
>
> Todd Schneider, a spokesman for FirstEnergy, said the company is
> considering holding a public forum to respond to community concerns.
> Such a meeting probably would not take place until after the plant
> restarts.
>
> "We're pretty busy now."
>
> On the whole, "the community does support us," Schneider said. "They
> have trust in the people who work there [at Davis-Besse] because they
> know them personally."
>
> Amy Ryder of Ohio Citizen Action recommended that the NRC revoke
> FirstEnergy's license. "If FirstEnergy thought this agency would
> revoke their license, they never would have let the degradation
> happen.
>
> "Other plant operators would take much more caution," if they feared
> losing their license, she said. "That is a recommendation with teeth."
>
> Arthur Howell, chairman of the NRC task force, responded, "All of us
> agree that what happened is unacceptable, and we need to take steps to
> make sure it doesn't happen again."
>
> Paul Gunter, who heads the reactor watchdog project of the Nuclear
> Information and Resources Service, was not satisfied with the NRC's
> answers.
>
> "If there is anything to be understood tonight, it's that when you
> abandon your principles, what can you expect for the [nuclear]
> industry? That leaves the plant open to running wild with production
> over safety," Gunter said, "and sets you up not as a regulator but as
> an accommodator."
>
> Howell responded: "These are all important issues, and are being
> reviewed by other parts of the agency."
>
> To reach these Plain Dealer reporters:
>
> jfunk@plaind.com 216-999-4138
>
> jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4842
>
> Paul Blanch
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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>
>
>
--
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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)
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