Almost a month and a half after the problem was first discovered during a routine inspection, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) said Friday that it has submitted its $25 million plan to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the repair of the corroded reactor pressure vessel head at the Davis-Besse nuclear power facility in Oak Harbor, OH.

According to the submitted plan, FENOC said the corroded area of the reactor head would be cut out and a six-inch thick, corrosion-resistant nickel alloy plate would be welded in. The plate will be about 17 and-a-half inches in diameter and cover the Control Rod Drive Mechanism nozzle opening adjacent to the corroded area, as well as another nozzle opening near the corrosion.

A preliminary plan that called for cutting out a 13-inch diameter area around the corrosion damage, and repairing the nozzle near the corrosion was discarded. The diameter of the repair in the submitted plan was enlarged to encompass the other nearby nozzle to make the overall area stronger. The plan applies the governing codes and NRC regulations.

With NRC approval of the repair plan and completion of the repairs, FENOC said it hopes to have Davis-Besse in service during the third quarter. Based on this timetable, the company has secured on-peak energy to replace generation from Davis-Besse through the end of August. As previously reported, net replacement power costs are expected to be between $10-15 million per month through June, and between $20-25 million per month for July and August (see NGI, April 15).

The NRC staff said that it has reported the results of its detailed review of similar plants and has not identified any plants with conditions similar to those that lead to the degradation at Davis-Besse. Each licensees provided information to show that they do not have the conditions identified at Davis-Besse including any history of boric acid leakage, reactor vessel head inspection results and cleanup activities performed for any leakage found.

However, the NRC staff said it found that some plants did report localized, minor wastage of the reactor vessel head as a result of boric acid. The wastage is “limited” and does not represent a “structural integrity concern.” The staff added that it is currently reviewing the licensee’s root cause determination report. A public meeting in early May will be planned to discuss the report.

In early March, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service — a nuclear watchdog group — said that following a February shutdown for a refueling outage and inspection, plant operators discovered a cavity had eaten through six inches of carbon steel on the top of the 6.5-inch thick reactor pressure vessel, the apparent result of corrosive coolant leakage from the reactor core. The group said that less than half an inch of the reactor vessel’s stainless steel liner remained in the bottom of the cavity separating the reactor’s highly radioactive and pressurized internal environment (2500 psi) from blasting into the reactor containment building, damaging safety equipment and possibly setting into motion a core melt accident. The scare propelled a surge of activity as nuclear plant operators across the country examined their own facilities (see NGI, April 1).

Davis-Besse is owned by Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp., parent company of FENOC, which also released its earnings last week for the first quarter. FirstEnergy reported first quarter 2002 net income of $116 million (40 cents per share), compared to $98 million (45 cents per share) in the first quarter 2001 prior to its merger with GPU.

The public utility holding company said that its 2002 results include the cumulative effect of an accounting change related to the company’s agreement to retain a 20.1% ownership interest in Avon Energy Partners Holdings under the pending sale of the United Kingdom-based company to Aquila, Inc. The results also include several one-time charges primarily associated with unregulated business investments. First quarter earnings excluding the accounting change and one-time charges were $131 million (45 cents per share), compared to 2001 first quarter earnings — excluding an accounting change and one-time charge — of $111 million (51 cents per share).

The company attributed lower earnings to unseasonably mild weather — which resulted in a 14% decrease in heating-degree days compared with the year-earlier quarter; the continued economic slowdown in the service areas of its electric operating companies; and a $33-million increase in nuclear operating expenses associated with nuclear refueling outages at the company’s Davis-Besse and Beaver Valley plants. FirstEnergy said that the elimination of goodwill amortization expenses associated with the adoption of new Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142 was responsible for partially offsetting the costs.

The company said that total generation sales decreased 4.6% in the quarter, compared with the year-earlier quarter, including results of former GPU companies. In addition, regulated power distribution deliveries to customers declined 7.9% for the first quarter of 2002, compared with the year-earlier quarter, also including results of former GPU companies. Lower heating demand and the economic slowdown contributed to the decline.

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