Jun 22 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Eric Lund The Blade, Toledo, Ohio

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission still needs to change a problematic "safety culture" at the nation's power plants, highlighted by a near-disaster in 2002 at the Davis-Besse nuclear reactor near Oak Harbor, according to the federal Government Accountability Office's preliminary findings in a recent report.

In March, 2002, a pineapple-sized hole and extensive corrosion were found in the reactor head at Davis Besse, which the GAO's report calls "a vital barrier preventing a radioactive release."

A steel lid on the reactor -- corroded down to two-tenths of an inch thickness in one spot and later determined to have a high probability of rupturing -- was all that prevented the release of radioactive steam into the containment building.

Had that occurred, it would have been the second time it happened at a U.S. power plant, the first being the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1979.

The GAO report states the NRC's reactor oversight process is not effective enough at "identifying and addressing early indicators of deteriorating safety." In response, the NRC has recently taken steps to remedy the problem.

"It has been more than four years since Davis-Besse, and it appears that NRC is now taking concrete actions to begin incorporating safety culture into the [reactor oversight process]," the report states.

The report cites examples of safety culture like "attention to detail, adherence to procedures, and effective corrective and preventative action" as having "significant impact on a plant's performance."

The new steps, which the report predicts will be fully implemented in July, include providing more guidance on identifying and correcting safety issues and creating a way to determine when plants need safety culture evaluation. For example, the report cites operating experience, independent assessment, and corrective action programs as steps toward problem identification and resolution.

In April, 2005, the NRC accused FirstEnergy Corp., which operates the Davis-Besse plant and former Davis-Besse staff members of misleading regulators and withholding information about the status of the reactor head when it was refueled in 2000 -- two years before the discovery of the corrosion.

Richard Wilkins, a spokesman for FirstEnergy, said the plant has updated equipment and plant procedures, replaced the top tier of employees, and begun using inspectors who operate independently of plant management.

"I think that we have a lot of eyes on how we're doing business here. In terms of operating safely and reliably, going into the future we're in pretty good shape," Mr. Wilkins said.

Ohio Sen. George Voinovich today will chair a Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee that will examine the nuclear plant regulatory process. "We must make sure NRC and the industry keep safety at the center of all they do," the Republican lawmaker said in a statement to The Blade. "An event like what happened at Davis-Besse can never occur again."