[As submitted May 28th; the published version on June 2nd was slightly edited by the Toledo Blade]
Dear Editor,
For decades, Beyond Nuclear and our environmental coalition allies have warned that Davis-Besse is a catastrophe waiting to happen. The reactor has had more close calls with disaster than any other. The safety risks increase with time, given its worsening age-related degradation. Just one example is its dangerously cracked concrete containment Shield Building. The cracking is so bad, that spalling of large chunks of concrete from its exterior face could damage or destroy safety-related systems, structures, or components below. In that sense, the Shield Building could cause the reactor core meltdown, and then fail to contain the catastrophic releases of hazardous radioactivity that would result. But Davis-Besse also suffers chronic boric acid leaks, the cause of the Hole-in-the-Head reactor lid corrosion fiasco, revealed in 2002, now weakening the inner steel containment vessel. The reactor pressure vessel suffers neutron radiation embrittlement, making it vulnerable to pressurized thermal shock failure. Radioactive leakage from the high-level waste storage pool was documented in 2013. Experimental steam generators were installed several years ago. The list of mounting safety risks goes on. Now the controversial HB6, being rammed through the state legislature despite widespread opposition, would squeeze electric consumers on their monthly bill, to the tune of $300 million per year, to bail out bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions from its bad business decisions. Half the public subsidy would prop up Davis-Besse and its also long troubled sibling reactor, Perry, northeast of Cleveland. So now Ohioans are to be forced to pay for this high stakes game of radioactive Russian roulette on the Lake Erie shore. Davis-Besse, and Perry, should be shut down, for safety sake. Just transitions should be implemented, to retain or retrain the workforce, as well as cushion the tax revenue loss in host communities. The electricity could readily be replaced by safe, clean, affordable efficiency and renewables, such as solar and wind. But HB6 would continue the sabotage of such good ideas, while lavishing undue public support on dirty, dangerous, and expensive sources, namely FirstEnergy’s radioactive waste generators and coal burners.
Sincerely,
Kevin Kamps
Radioactive Waste Specialist
Beyond Nuclear
7304 Carroll Avenue, #182
Takoma Park, Maryland 20912