NRC is asked to take 2nd look at Davis-Besse
Originally published in the Toledo Blade
Regional News | Article published Thursday, October 16, 2003
NRC is asked to take 2nd look at Davis-Besse
By TOM HENRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday to reconsider his petition for revoking FirstEnergy Corp.?s operating license at Davis-Besse.
The Cleveland Democrat claimed to have uncovered evidence that the NRC "went through major machinations" to justify its high-end rating for the level of risk posed by the near-rupture of the nuclear plant?s reactor head.
The NRC did so to avoid the embarrassment of having weaknesses in its new risk-assessment rating system exposed, while being forced to justify why it has invested so much time overseeing FirstEnergy?s restart efforts, according to a letter Mr. Kucinich sent to NRC Chairman Nils Diaz.
The NRC?s headquarters in Rockville, Md., acknowledged receipt of the letter yesterday, but was withholding comment pending review.
The football-shaped cavity in Davis-Besse?s reactor head - capable of leading to the formation of radioactive steam - was rated by the NRC on Feb. 25 as a "red" safety violation, the agency?s worst.
Mr. Kucinich, a longtime FirstEnergy foe, has no quarrel about that. He said it is the only conclusion the NRC should have reached, given Davis-Besse?s potential for danger.
But the congressman said he learned that a new process the NRC uses to assess the risk of such violations is anything but clear-cut.
If applied literally, the type of formal review that was used - called a significance determination process - would have resulted in only a "green" finding for Davis-Besse?s reactor-head problem. That?s the softest violation. It does not even require heightened NRC oversight, something the agency has been engaged in at Davis-Besse since the reactor head problem was revealed in March, 2002.
According to internal e-mails, memos, and draft reports, several NRC officials knew Davis-Besse?s problem was worthy of a red finding. The challenge, though, was finagling the process in order to reach that conclusion, Mr. Kucinich said.
"The NRC went through major machinations to deliver a red finding to satisfy the public demand for accountability and its own need to pin the fault on FirstEnergy," according to his letter.
David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists nuclear safety engineer, agreed. "They kept monkeying with the system until it spit out a red," he said.
A flawed risk-assessment formula is not sheer bureaucracy. It creates a scenario in which a dangerous nuclear plant could keep operating unless the NRC is alert enough to catch problems, as it eventually was with Davis-Besse. The situation is akin to NASA not picking up on problems that led to the shuttle explosions, he said.
Mr. Kucinich said in his letter he objects to having the reactor head degradation issue assessed separately from the plant?s emergency core cooling system.
The latter has a faulty design, according to the NRC.
Mr. Kucinich said the issues should not have been separated because the cooling system would have been called upon to prevent a meltdown if the reactor head had burst. FirstEnergy, at the urging of the NRC, has modified the cooling system?s sump and is in the process of modifying its high-pressure injection pumps.
He urged reconsideration of his petition so that Davis-Besse would be required to undergo re-licensing and more thorough inspections. The NRC does not shadow FirstEnergy and its contractors for every inspection; in some cases, it reviews documents supplied by the utility, he said.
"If your process to oversee reactors is this subjective and dysfunctional, the public can have no confidence that Davis-Besse is safe again," he wrote. "My petition would correct this serious oversight by requiring a complete NRC inspection of every corner of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant."
Mr. Kucinich, who on Monday announced his candidacy for president, had a petition to revoke FirstEnergy?s license rejected by the NRC in September.
It was the first of two petitions that have been filed in an attempt to keep Davis-Besse closed.
The other petition, filed by Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists, has not been ruled upon. It calls for the NRC to investigate the extent to which FirstEnergy has complied with an industry-wide request the agency made in the mid-1990s for design criteria documents.
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