FirstEnergy names new board chairman, shakes up senior executives

As reported by the Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com.

The shake up, explained as a structural transition to returning to regulated utility status, may auger bankruptcy in the near future for FirstEnergy's coal and nuclear power plants, leading to their potential sale or permanent shutdown.

The nuclear power plants involved are Davis-Besse east of Toledo, and Perry east of Cleveland; both are on the Lake Erie shore of northern Ohio. Also, the Beaver Valley Units 1 & 2 reactors in Pennsylvania, west of Pittsburgh near the Ohio line, on the Beaver River.

Early April has been rumored as the decision time for FirstEnergy's teetering coal and nuclear plants.

Beyond Nuclear has long called for Davis-Besse's permanent shutdown, as a vital safety matter. We helped lead a binational environmental coalition, represented by Toledo attorney Terry Lodge, which sought to block the 2017 to 2037 license extension. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rubber-stamped the license extension anyway, despite our best efforts.

In recent weeks, Beyond Nuclear published an op-ed in the Toledo Blade, and a letter to the editor in the Columbus Dispatch, pointing out the safety imperative of closing Davis-Besse ASAP.

And in recent days, Beyond Nuclear joined with Michigan and Ohio colleagues, to call attention to multiple problems at the Perry atomic reactor as well.