Anti-Davis-Besse coalition presses case against cracked containment, seeks to block license extension

The "Red Photo," showing boric acid corrosion of Davis-Besse's reactor vessel head, which came within 3/16ths of an inch of a Loss of Coolant Accident in 2002Yesterday,  the environmental coalition opposing the 20 year extension at the problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor near Toledo defended its contention about the recently revealed severe cracking in the concrete shield building against challenges by FirstEnergy nuclear utility, as well as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff. Terry Lodge of Toledo serves as the coalition's attorney.

One revelation the coalition exposed today is that FirstEnergy, with NRC staff complicity, kept secret from the public, and even from FirstEnergy investors, cracking in the upper 20 feet of the structure for five weeks -- until pressure by U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat-Ohio) forced NRC staff to admit the truth to his staff. Kucinich made the information public the very next day, and won NRC Chairman Gregory Jackzo's support for an NRC public meeting near Davis-Besse, where FirstEnergy was forced to admit publicly for the first time the expanded extent of the problem.

The environmental coalition intervening against Davis-Besse's license extension includes Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio. Davis-Besse has had a disproportionately large number of near-misses with disaster in its 35 years of operations, including a Three Mile Island precursor incident 18 months before the infamous meltdown, a very dicey direct hit by a tornado in 1998, and its own infamous "Hole-In-The-Head Fiasco" in 2002.

Update on February 14, 2012 by admin

The environmental coalition issued a media release about its defense of the cracked containment contention.

NRC Chairman Jaczko votes against construction/operating permit for new AP1000s at Vogtle due to lack of post-Fukushima safety upgrades

NRC Chairman Greg JaczkoBy a 4 to 1 vote, the Commissioners of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) today approved the combined Construction and Operating License Application (COLA) of Southern Nuclear Company, paving the way for two 1,100 megawatt-electric Toshiba-Westinghouse "Advanced Passive" AP1000s to be built at the Vogtle nuclear power plant near Augusta, Georgia. NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko cast the sole "no" vote, while Commissioners Kristine Svinicki, George Apostolakis, William Magwood IV, and William Ostendorff voted in favor. Chairman Jaczko had previously cast the sole dissenting votes against such controversial proposals as: the 20 year license extension at the Oyster Creek, NJ GE BWR Mark I, the oldest operating reactor in the U.S. and identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4; and the Private Fuel Storage, LLC high-level radioactive waste "parking lot dump" targeted at the tiny Skull Valley Goshutes Indian Reservation in Utah. Recently, Beyond Nuclear's Linda Gunter pointed out that Chairman Jaczko, although not perfect, shows concern for safety that sets him apart from the other four NRC Commissioners.

Beyond Nuclear responded to the Vogtle Units 3 and 4 NRC approval with a media statement, pointing out that a NRC license does not ensure project success. Read more, including updates, at our "New Reactors" section...

"New Containment Flaw Identified at the BWR Mark I"

Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen (pictured at left), in a video now posted at the homepage of Fairewinds Associates, explains that a non-radioactive test performed at the Brunswick, North Carolina General Electric Boiling Water Reactor of the Mark I design 40 years ago, supports his theory that the primary reactor containment head at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 lifted, due to elongation of bolts, allowing hydrogen gas generated by the meltdown in the reactor core to escape into the secondary or outer reactor containment building. "It only took a spark" to then detonate the hydrogen gas, destroying the reactor containment building. Thus, and very significantly, all the talk (including in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Fukushima Task Force deliberations) about "hardening" the vents at U.S. and other Mark Is around the world is irrelevant. This is a flaw in the Mark I design that any hardening of the vents to make them "new and improved" cannot solve. Arnie shows a photo revealing that the vent at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 appears to have been functioning before the explosion -- steam is visible exiting the top of the Unit 1 "smoke stack." Despite this, it did not prevent the explosion that followed.

"Cracking in the safety-related shield building of the containment system" at the heart of contention against 20 more years at Davis-Besse

U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)The quoted phrase above were the words of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ironically enough, in a Dec. 2, 2011 Confirmatory Action Letter to FirstEnergy Nuclear allowing it to re-start the Davis-Besse atomic reactor, despite severe cracking -- of unknown root cause and unknown extent -- in its concrete shield building. Beyond Nuclear and its environmental coalition allies have been joined by U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich is questioning the safety risks of NRC's rush to grant re-start approval, despite the many unanswered questions about the safety significance of the cracking.

U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) asks "Why won't FirstEnergy tell the truth about Davis-Besse?" regarding the extensive cracking, of unknown origin and extent, in its 225 foot tall, 2.5 foot thick concrete shield building, an integral component of its overall radiological containment structure. On Nov. 21, 2011, Rep. Kucinich called for a public meeting on the cracking problem, which NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko supported. The NRC public meeting took place at Camp Perry, Ohio on January 5, 2012, at which Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps testified. On Jan. 10th, Beyond Nuclear and environmental allies submitted a contention on the cracking to the NRC Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board panel presiding over FirstEnergy's application for a 20 year license extension at Davis-Besse, urging that the proposal be blocked. (The 60 page cracking contention can be viewed here.) FirstEnergy has urged the ASLB to reject the contention. NRC staff, for its part, also urges the ASLB to reject most of the contention, although, remarkably, given its long track record of strenuously opposing environmental interveners at every twist and turn of ASLB proceedings, does partially support the contention's admission for a hearing on the merits. Environmental interveners have until Monday to rebut the counter arguments to its Davis-Besse cracking contention.

Safety significant atomic reactor replacement parts prematurely failing despite being brand new

A tube rupture in a brand new replacement steam generator at San Onofre Unit 3 last week, and a defective brand new replacement reactor head at Palisades, show that safety significant structures at atomic reactors are of questionable integrity and quality assurance. Three Mile Island and Arkansas Nuclear One have also experienced premature degradation of new replacement steam generators, manufactured by Areva of France. Of these, Paliades, Arkansas Nuclear One, and Three Mile Island have already had their 20 year license extensions rubberstamped by NRC.