The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) on Monday asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to keep the Davis-Besse nuclear plant in Ohio shut until its owners implement measures to prevent recurring violations of federal health and safety regulations.
In 2002, and again earlier this year, plant workers discovered that Davis-Besse had been operating for extended periods with cooling water leaking through cracks in the metal tubes that penetrate the lid of the vessel housing the reactor core. Federal regulations require that reactors be immediately shut down whenever such leakage occurs because leaking cracks are warning signs of a catastrophic rupture of piping carrying cooling water, or worse, vessel failure.
“Davis-Besse has to kick its crack problem and operate within federal regulations–or not at all,” said David Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety project at UCS. “It was more luck than skill that no one was harmed by Davis-Besse’s past transgressions. Ohioans deserve better protection before Davis-Besse’s luck runs out.”
The operating license NRC issued for Davis-Besse defines the minimum set of equipment and performance levels needed to adequately protect the public. For example, the operating license permits the reactor to continue to operate for as long as seven days when one of the required emergency diesel generators is out of service before the reactor has to shut down. Similarly, the reactor can operate for as long as two days when one of the two components used by the operators to manually shut down the reactor in an emergency is broken. But the moment that a crack begins leaking cooling water from the reactor vessel, the operating license requires the reactor to be shut down.
In 2002, workers at the plant found ample evidence of leakage in the reactor vessel lid. The plant owner’s assessment concluded the reactor likely operated for years with leaking cracks. The owners then replaced the damaged lid and restarted the reactor. Earlier this year, workers again found tell-tale evidence of leakage from two cracks in the reactor vessel’s new lid.
In Related News…
Entergy Corp (NYSE: ETR) was denied a request for a water-quality certification for its Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York. State regulators concluded that the plant’s cooling systems, whether operated as they have been for decades or modified under a proposal by Entergy, "do not and will not comply with existing New York State water quality standards."
In February, Vermont legislators voted to withdraw the operating license for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear plant–also owned by Entergy–following problems with radioactive leaks.
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