NRC inspection report reveals more problems at Davis-Besse in aftermath of cracked containment

A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspection report dated Jan. 31, 2012, reveals numerous problems at FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Corpoation's (FENOC) problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor near Toledo, Ohio on the Lake Erie shoreline. Incredibly, despite its infamy for having to replace its reactor vessel head twice in one decade, FENOC still resisted inspecting its third, newest lid for potential defects, until NRC forced it to. No defects were found, but had there been any, FENOC would have not known prior to installation. (FENOC had previously installed a new lid at its Beaver Valley nuclear power plant suspected of being potentially defective.)

In addition, despite the controversy over its recently revealed concrete containment building cracks, FENOC nearly installed corroded and brittle rebar into its patch on the shield building after the vessel head swap. NRC inspectors prevented FENOC from cementing the bad rebar in place.

A number of other problems came to light in the inspetion report, including: significant deterioration of the intake/discharge canal into Lake Erie, essential for reactor cooling during routine operations but especially during accident conditions; an un-licensed operator manipulating control rods in the operating reactor core; and a worker who damaged safety-significant equipment by climbing up it, rather than using a ladder, to inspect an elevated valve.

Beyond Nuclear op-ed in run up to NRC public meeting at Palisades

The Kalamazoo Gazette in southwest Michigan has published a "Viewpoint" op-ed by Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps, written in response to a Gazette editorial applauding a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissionannouncement of enhanced inspections in the aftermath of a major safety downgrade at Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shoreline. Kevin warned that NRC's repeated weakenings of its safety regulations over the course of decades, and its rubberstamp of a 20 year license extension at the dangerously deteriorated 40+ year old reactor, is the only reason Palisades is still operating.

NRC will hold a public meeting near Palisades on Wed., Feb. 29 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. EST to discuss a litany of recent serious incidents at the reactor. Beyond Nuclear urges concerned citizens to attend the meeting in person, or by calling into the toll-free phone number.

Danger Zone: Aging Nuclear Reactors

Al Jazeera's weekly program "People & Power" has produced an excellent exposé on the more than 70 risky rubberstamps the Nuclear Regulatory has granted: 20 year license extensions at "break down phase," age-degraded atomic reactors across the U.S. Here is the introduction:

Following Japan's nuclear disaster last year there are fears the US may be heading for a nuclear catastrophe of its own

In March 2011, a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

As tens of thousands of people were evacuated from nearby towns and villages, the world waited anxiously to see whether the radioactive fallout would spread across the country, or even be carried overseas.

Unsurprisingly, in the wake of this incident, the nuclear operations of other countries have come under considerable scrutiny.

One such country is the US where more than 100 similar reactors - some of them in earthquake zones or close to major cities - are now reaching the end of their working lives.

Their owners want to keep them running, but others - from environmentalists to mainstream politicians - are deeply concerned.

In this investigation for People & Power, Joe Rubin and Serene Fang of the Center for Investigative Reporting examine whether important safety considerations are being taken into account as the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) considers extending the licences of these plants.

The agency has recently come under fire for glossing over the potential dangers of ageing reactors, for becoming too cosy with the industry and for political infighting among the agency's senior executives, which critics in the US Senate and elsewhere say seriously hampers its ability to ensure safety.

The investigation focuses on the Pacific Gas & Electric nuclear facility at Diablo Canyon and two others, which are at Indian Point in New York and Fort Calhoun in Nebraska.

These three sites represent the dangers posed to nuclear power plant safety by earthquakes, terrorism and flooding.

Rubin and Fang discover that the NRC's oversight track record is far from perfect, and that unless urgent action is taken the US could be heading for a nuclear catastrophe of its own.

"Fog of War" begins to part nearly a year after Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe began

As first reported by Steve Mufson of the Washington Post on Feb. 7th, transcripts and audio recordings of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission responses to the unfolding Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Catastrophe in the first hours, days, and weeks after March 11, 2011-- recently released in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by journalists and environmentalists -- reveal a state of confused chaos and groping frustration. Clearly, NRC's March 13, 2011 media release, claiming that no harmful levels of Fukushima radioactive fallout would reach U.S. territory, were -- as Beyond Nuclear warned in media interviews at the time -- at best premature (as a number of large-scale explosions were yet to happen, and meltdowns were still very much underway). However, the recently released documentation reveals that a strong element of deception was also at work, as NRC was aware that Alaska could experience plumes of radioactive Iodine-131, hazardous to human thyroid glands. An NRC official referred to the proposal -- from a U.S. Department of Energy ad hoc emergency response think tank -- to use a shaped charge to blow a hole through a radiological containment structure, in order to create a pathway for cooling water flow to a melting down reactor core, as "madness."

As revealed by a Feb. 22nd New York Times article by Matt Wald, as well as a transcript uncovered by Scott Portzline of Three Mile Island Alert, NRC was very much in spin mode, worried about the political ramifications and public perceptions in response to the unfolding radioactive calamity. The latter transcript could be entitled "How many NRC staff does it take to make a hole?" Several NRC staff spend pages of transcript just over a week into the nuclear catatrophe discussing how to enlarge a hole in the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 reactor building's roof, in order to "vent" explosive hydrogen gas, partly to avoid the "political" fallout of yet another large-scale explosion broadcast worldwide on live t.v. Frighteningly, deputy administrator Chuck Casto of NRC's Western U.S. regional office suggests using a helicopter to drop or slam a heavy weight, such as a colorfully named "Bambi bucket" (a large water filled container used for fighting forest fires), above or beside the irradiated nuclear fuel storage pool. Apparently, Casto was unfamiliar with 2001 and 1997 NRC reports, as cited in the 2003 Alvarez et al. study about pool fire risks, warning that a "heavy load drop" that drains a storage pool's cooling water could cause a radioactive waste inferno releasing up to 100% of the irradiated nuclear fuel's volatile Cesium-137, resulting in 25,000 to 143,000 latent cancer deaths downwind, up to 2,700 square miles of agricultural land condemned, and economic costs due to evacuation into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

In addition, National Public Radio's "Marketplace" has just posted audio recordings of NRC discussions.

When it comes to NRC FOIA responses, "patience is a virtue." NRC's FOIA office has told Beyond Nuclear that its requests for documentation on the Davis-Besse atomic reactor's cracked containment will take four months to provide. Even worse, NRC's FOIA office has told Beyond Nuclear that there is no date certain for responding to a request for documentation on allegations that NRC Commissioner William Magwood IV regularly meets with nuclear industry representatives "off campus," in violation of norms -- and perhaps even laws and regulations -- pertaining to open, transparent, and accountable government, principles promised by President Barack Obama within hours of taking office in January 2009.

Congressman Kucinich outs the truth at Davis-Besse

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH, pictured at left) has watchdogged the dangerous Davis-Besse atomic reactor not for years, but for decades. Most recently, he has played the essential role of pressuring both FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) and even the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to admit the truth about what is going on with Davis-Besse's cracked containment. With the backing of NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, Rep. Kucinich succeeded in winning a public meeting near Davis-Besse on Jan. 5th, where FENOC was forced to admit the cracking was not just in "decorative" elements of the concrete shield building, as it had deceptively held to for months, but rather was structural in nature.

On Feb. 8th, Rep. Kucinich revealed the full significance of cracking in the "outer rebar mat": NRC had concluded by Jan. 5th, if not weeks earlier, that the outer layer of steel reinforcement in Davis-Besse's concrete shield building has lost its functional effectiveness. Outrageously, at least up until Dec. 29, 2011, NRC continued to parrot FENOC's claims that the cracking impacted only "decorative" elements. And at the Jan. 5th "standing room only" public meeting attended by 300 people, including dozens of reporters, NRC failed to communicate to the public the full significance of cracking in the outer rebar mat. In fact, NRC still has not done so.

On Feb. 21st, Rep. Kucinich asked "The question for residents of Ohio is given FirstEnergy’s historical lack of credibility on issues at Davis-Besse, will anyone believe them?" He was referring to a "root cause analysis" by FENOC due by Feb. 28th about the cracking. Rep. Kucinich pointed out:

"FirstEnergy has hired highly-paid consultants to prepare its root cause report. If those consultants conclude that the cracking has occurred as a result of a slow, continuous deterioration of the concrete over the more-than-thirty-five years since it was originally poured, that would be bad for Davis-Besse and its current application to extend its operating license for an additional 20 years beyond its expiration in 2017. If those consultants conclude that the cracking occurred right after the initial drying of the poured concrete in the mid-1970’s and has not worsened since then, that would be good for Davis-Besse." Kucinich hints that the latter version of causation will likely be the finding reported by FENOC's highly-paid consultants.

Beyond Nuclear has co-led an environmental coalition challenging Davis-Besse's 20 year license extension. In fact, on Jan. 10th the coalition filed a cracked containment contention in the NRC's Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board proceeding, and has defended it ever since. If the cracking did occur right when Davis-Besse was built and hasn't worsened since, one has to wonder why it took FENOC 35 years to discover the cracking?!

On Feb. 16th, Kucinich gave FirstEnergy a "Corporation Fact Check Rating" of "Pants-on-Fire" regarding its dirty coal burners.  FENOC is also in hot water regarding nuclear fuel at its Beaver Valley nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, which could dangerously overheat in an accident; due to failure to properly inspect safety-significant structures, Beaver Valley may also have installed a defective Babcock and Wilcox-Canada replacement reactor vessel head in the aftermath of the 2002 Davis-Besse Hole-In-the-Head Fiasco. FENOC's Perry atomic reactor northeast of Cleveland is amongst the five worst in the U.S., according to NRC safety rankings. This is due to NRC findings having to do with recurring "weaknesses in the area of human performance," including an April 2011 incident in which workers risked radioactive overexposures due to poor planning and systemic mistakes.