FirstEnergy announces reforms in management of nuclear power plants
Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio - June 25, 2003
FirstEnergy Corp., which has finished repairing a major rust hole on top of its Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, is nearly done plugging holes in how it runs its three nuclear plants.
The changes, expected to be completed in August, will result in an
unspecified number of job losses at the 2,800-employee FirstEnergy nuclear
operating company subsidiary, the company said. The job reductions, to be
accomplished through attrition and layoffs, are not expected to be significant,
a spokesman said.
"Some of our departments will be larger. Some will be smaller,"
spokesman Todd Schneider said. "Now, all our plants' department structure
will be the same."
FirstEnergy began the organizational changes following the discovery in March
2002 of unprecedented corrosion on top of the Davis-Besse reactor in Oak Harbor.
The company spent more than $600 million in repairs and to buy replacement power
for Davis-Besse, which federal regulators allowed to restart earlier this year
after a more than two-year shutdown.
The Nuclear Regulator Commission has also increased its oversight at the
Perry plant because of operational problems there.
Following the formation of the parent corporation, FirstEnergy, in the late
1990s, the three nuclear power plants had different management and
organizational structures, Schneider said.
"For the first time since (the nuclear subsidiary) was created, all
three generating plants will have the same structure, job titles and
descriptions, and functional design," Gary Leidich, president of the
nuclear operating subsidiary, said in a statement.
The changes include a larger central organization at FirstEnergy's
headquarters, the company said. Of the 110-member nuclear management team, 37
people moved into new positions and 13 people were promoted, the company release
said.
The second phase, expected to be finished in July, will name supervisors and
staff members at the plants, the company said.
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