CLEVELAND (AP) — A watchdog group has questioned the
soundness of a nuclear plant along Lake Erie where tiny cracks have been
found in thick concrete on the outside of the reactor’s containment
building.
Contractors replacing a cracked reactor head at
FirstEnergy Corp.’s Davis-Besse plant outside Toledo first discovered a
30-foot hairline crack. Further inspections found numerous, tiny cracks
in the building’s outside facade.
The building’s concrete shell is
meant to protect the reactor from tornado debris, an aircraft or
anything else that might hit it from outside.
FirstEnergy believes the building’s walls are safe and says they have been closely inspected.
But
the Union of Concerned Scientists has written the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission asking whether the concrete walls were built to
adequate engineering specifications, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland (http://bit.ly/uff7Bq ) reported.
The NRC said Monday that the letter is being reviewed.
Akron-based
FirstEnergy wants to re-start the reactor at the end of the month. It
has been shut down for installation of a new 82-ton reactor head,
replacing one that cracked.
But the questions could delay the restart of the reactor, The Plain Dealer reported.
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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.