Report finds Davis-Besse crack rate growth faster than estimated

Washington (Platts)--5Apr2007

The main crack at Davis-Besse was growing much faster than previously
estimated, according to a report from a consultant hired by operator
FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. The report was commissioned as part of the
company's insurance claim to recover some of the more than $600 million in
costs for replacement power and for operations and maintenance during a
two-year shutdown of the plant, Fenoc spokesman Todd Schneider said April 5.
During a 2002 refueling and inspection outage, plant personnel discovered that
boric acid leakage from cracks in reactor pressure vessel head nozzles had
caused severe degradation of the vessel head. NRC received the report from
Fenoc last month and publicly released it April 5. One of the report?s
conclusions is that the degradation was not readily detectable during a 2000
refueling outage because the growth of the nozzle crack was relatively slow
and then accelerated in fall 2001. NRC Region III spokesman Jan Strasma said
April 5 that the agency was studying the report but "at this point we see
nothing that changes our previous conclusions" that led the NRC to keep the
reactor out of service and impose a $5.45 million fine