"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.