Davis-Besse: from Hole in the Head, to Hole in the Containment Wall

NRC file photo of NRC inspector visually examining severe cracking in Davis-Besse's Shield Building wall in Oct., 2011.FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) ran its Davis-Besse atomic reactor to the breaking point in 2002. The Hole-in-the-Head fiasco -- a nearly complete breach of the reactor vessel closure head, or lid -- was the most infamous near-miss to a major reactor accident in the U.S. since the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979.

Now it has been revealed that Davis-Besse has a hole in its Shield Building wall -- an essential component of the radiological containment structures -- that extends up to 12 inches through its 30-inch width, a full 40% way through. Davis-Besse has operated for over two years, at full power, with this potentially fatal flaw in its Shield Building wall.

The gap or air space was discovered last Thursday, and publicly revealed Friday, during the current Davis-Besse steam generator replacement project, which has breached Davis-Besse's Shield Building for an unprecedented fourth time. The previous three breaches include the pre-operational Initial Construction Opening in the 1970s; the 2002-2004 reactor lid replacement project; and the 2011 reactor lid replacement project. Each breach risks further damaging the Shield Building, where severe cracking was discovered in late 2011. In September 2013, FENOC admitted that the severe cracking is growing worse over time.

NRC Region III Staff are holding a Webinar on Davis-Besse's current steam generator replacement project on Thursday, Feb. 20th, from 6 to 7 PM Eastern. The Webinar was scheduled before revelation of the hole in the containment wall. Please pre-register and attend the Webinar. Beyond Nuclear and Don't Waste MI have generated a series of sample questions you can put to NRC during the Webinar.

Beyond Nuclear helps lead environmental coalition efforts challenging both the steam generator replacements, as well as FENOC's application for a 20-year (2017-2037) license extension at Davis-Besse. Terry Lodge, Toledo-based attorney, serves as legal counsel for the environmental coalition in both NRC proceedings.

Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer, Fairewinds Associates, Inc., serves as expert witness for the coalition in the "experimental" steam generator replacement intervention. Gundersen serves as expert witness for Friends of the Earth on the botched San Onofre 2 & 3 steam generator replacements, which has led to the permanent shutdown of those two reactors -- a multi-billion dollar boondoggle. Gundersen was also instrumental in outing the truth on the fatal cracking in Crystal River, FL's concrete containment, also caused by a botched steam generator replacement, another multi-billion dollar boondoggle. Gundersen has alleged that Davis-Besse's steam generator replacement has taken the same shortcuts on safety, made all the worse by its Shield Building's already very questionable, and worsening, structural integrity.

The coalition launched the challenge against the steam generator replacement in May, 2013, and defended its challenge in June and July -- twice in one month! -- 2013. The NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) which heard the intervention quickly dismissed it, without addressing the merits, effectively green-lighting Davis-Besse's shortcuts on safety. Beyond Nuclear has posted the entire docket of the steam generator intervention on its website.

Beyond Nuclear has filed a Freedom of Information Act Request on the gap in the Davis-Besse Shield Building wall.

The Toledo Blade has reported on this story, on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15.

NRC posted an Event Notification Report on Feb. 18, and a Preliminary Notification of Occurrence (PNO) on Feb. 19.

Update on February 20, 2014 by admin

Here are the questions that Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps asked of the NRC Staff during the Webinar.

WKSU has reported on this story, quoting an NRC official as saying: “It may be a bit premature to speculate on where this ends up with regard to license renewal, but suffice it to say that we are evaluating not only the number of times the shield building has been cut, but also the issues that have arisen each time the shield building was cut.”

Nuclear utilities beg for bailouts to avert reactor shutdowns, Obama administration appears amenable

In a pair of articles, E&E's Hannah Northey reports that nuclear utility giants such as Exelon and Entergy are lobbying hard for changes to electricity marketplace rules that would enable them to keep uncompetitive atomic reactors operating. For its part, the Obama Dept. of Energy appears poised to do all it can to prop up its favorite dirty, dangerous, and expensive energy industry.

Northey quotes an Exelon spokesman as admitting not just Quad Cities (two reactors) and Clinton (one reactor) in IL are at risk of near-term shutdown, but a total of five reactors altogether, although he would not specify the other two.

Northey also quotes an Entergy official, who compares the risk of numerous additional near-term atomic reactor meltdowns to driving off a cliff.

Exelon considers closing two GE BWR Mark Is in IL

As reported by Crain's Chicago Business, Exelon -- the largest nuclear utility in the U.S. -- is considering shuttering its Quad Cities nuclear power plant, because it cannot compete on the wholesale electricity market. Quad Cities consists of two General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4.

At the same time, Exelon is considering permanently closing its single unit Clinton nuclear power plant -- a GE BWR Mark III. A decade ago, Exelon was riding high at Clinton -- recipient of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rubber-stamp support for an "Early Site Permit" for a proposed new reactor at the site.

The Chicago Tribune has also reported on this story.

GROUPS: EXPECT MORE WV-STYLE WATER DISASTERS UNLESS OBAMA SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER PROTECTING U.S. WATER FROM ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

As stated in the first paragraph of a press release issued on Jan. 30 by the Civil Society Institute: "Sixty groups from across the United States called on President Obama today to issue an executive order protecting water availability and quality in the U.S. from haphazard energy exploration, warning that in the absence of a national water/energy “roadmap” there will be many more “sacrifice zones” like the coal-processing chemical spill in West Virginia that contaminated the drinking water of 300,000 people and creating a federal state of emergency."

The press release is entitled: GROUPS: EXPECT MORE WV-STYLE WATER DISASTERS UNLESS OBAMA SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER PROTECTING U.S. WATER FROM ENERGY DEVELOPMENT; West Virginia is Not Alone: 10 Similar "Sacrifice Zones" Identified in CO, LA, MA, ND, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX & VT; Warning That Water Will Be Subject to Repeated Disasters in Absence of Water/Energy Roadmap, Clear Priorities.

A telephone press conference was held at 1pm Eastern on Jan. 30th. The speakers, as reflected in the press release above, included: Grant Smith, Senior Energy Policy Analyst, Civil Society Institute, Newton, MA; Janet Keating, Executive Director, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Huntington, WV; Tracy Carluccio, deputy director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Bristol, PA; Bob Arrington, retired mechanical engineer, board member of the Western Colorado Congress.

A streaming audio replay of this news event will be available as of 5 p.m. EST on January 30, 2014 at http://www.CivilSocietyInstitute.org.

Beyond Nuclear was one of the sixty groups which signed on.

Groups are still encouraged to endorse the proposed Executive Order. To do so, contact Jennifer Filiault at the Civil Society Institute: p: 617-243-3514; c: 508-648-4184; jennifer@americancleanenergyagenda.org

The proposed executive order includes sections on the disastrously large amounts of water used by centralized thermal electric power plants -- including atomic reactors -- and calls for their phase out and replacement with other forms of electricity generation, such as wind power and solar photovoltaic, which use little to no water during operations. The thermal releases alone from atomic reactors have large negative impacts on surface water ecosystems, as documented in Paul and Linda Gunter's Licensed to Kill report.

Incredibly, centralized thermal electric power plants -- both nuclear and fossil fueled -- discharge two-thirds of the heat generated (whether by atom splitting, or fossil fuel combustion) as waste. That is, only one-third of the heat generated is actually converted into electricity. The waste thermal heat is then either directly released into adjacent surface water, causing significant ecosystem damage, or else released as steam via cooling towers -- often resulting in the loss of that water to the basin, as it blows away downwind.

In addition to thermal discharges to surface water and the atmosphere, operating atomic reactors also release hazardous radioactivity and toxic chemicals -- both intentionally and "routinely," with permission from the government; as well as "accidentally," as by leaks -- into surface waters, groundwater, soil, and the air, as documented in a Beyond Nuclear pamphlet and report.

Uranium mining and milling also result in toxic and radioactive releases to surface waters, including one of the worst nuclear disasters in U.S. history -- the 1979 earthen dam break, unleashing a large flood of uranium tailings into the Rio Puerco, the drinking and irrigation water supply for a large number of Navajo downstream in New Mexico.

In fact, such impacts often disproportionately harm indigenous peoples.

Another example is the aftermath of large-scale uranium mining at Elliot Lake, Ontario (again, on indigenous peoples lands -- this time, the Serpent River First Nation). Even two decades after cessation of active uranium mining and milling at Elliot Lake, the tailings "mountains" left behind are still releasing the single largest plume of hazardous radium from any point source into the Great Lakes, which serve as the drinking water supply for tens of millions of people in several U.S. states, and 2 Canadian provinces, downstream.

Fairewinds Energy Education at the Big Picture Theater

As posted by Fairewinds Energy Education on Jan. 23rd, a video recording regarding: Maggie and Arnie [Gundersen] speak at The Green Mountain Global Forum about the risks of living near one of the twenty-three US nuclear reactors that are identical to the four that exploded at Fukushima Daiichi (Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactors). The “Lake Wobegone” effect (where each community thinks their nuclear plant is better than average) convinces the 23 local communities in which there is a Mark 1 BWR that a nuclear accident couldn’t possibly happen at their nuclear reactor. The experiences at Fukushima Daiichi, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, prove that faith in nuclear safety is unfounded.