ML12187A462

E-mail from Timothy Riley on NRC Concludes Davis Besse Safe to Restart

ML12187A462
Person / Time
Site:	Davis Besse
Issue date:	11/02/2011
From:	Riley T Office of Congressional Affairs
To:	Babcock D, Schulman H, Steyer R, Butterfield N US SEN (Senate)
References
FOIA/PA-2012-0217
Download: ML12187A462 (3)

Text

Rilley (OCA), Timothy From: Riley (OCA), Timothy Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 4:20 PM To: 'DougBabcock@brown,.senate.gov'; 'nickbutterfield@portman.senate. gov';

'Ryan.Steyer@mail.house.gov'; 'Howard.Sch ulman@mail.house.gov'

Subject:

NRC concludes Davis-Besse safe to restart Attachments: DB-CAL3-1 1-001 -Dec2-201 1.pdf; DB- CAL-assurance shield bldg 3.docx Please see the attached press release and Confirmatory Action Letter, Please let me know if vou would liki a technical brief on this issue; I can arrange for phone briefings Monday.

I can be contacted atl /(Blackberry).

Thank you, Tim Riley Sent from an NRC Blackberry.

Tim 1(b)(6) Riley I

RNRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region III 2443 Warrenville Road Soý Lisle IL 60532 Site: www.nrc.gov Blog: http://public-bloa.nrc-gateway.pov No. 111-11-036 December, 2 2011

Contact:

Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-Mail: OPA3.RegionlII@nrc.gov Prema Chandrathil (630) 829-9663 NRC CONCLUDES DAVIS-BESSE SAFE TO RESTART AND ISSUES CONFIRMATORY ACTION LETTER The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that the operators of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Corp. (FENOC) have provided reasonable assurance that the shield building is capable of performing its safety functions and that the utility can proceed with restarting the plant. The NRC's independent assessment evaluated a wide range of information such as technical details ranging from the size of the cracks, the utility's sampling and testing of the concrete in the building to determine the extent of the cracks, and its structural analysis. The plant is located in Oak Harbor, Ohio about 40 miles southeast of Toledo.

The NRC will hold a public meeting in which FENOC will discuss their technical analysis and explain why the plant is safe to continue to operate with the cracks in the shield building. The meeting will take place in the near future with details to be issued once finalized.

However, the NRC has issued a Confirmatory Action Letter (CAL) to the operator of the plant, FENOC. The CAL details and confirms FENOC's agreement to take certain actions to monitor and ensure the cracks in the shield building continue to not adversely impact safety going forward. The NRC will review and evaluate FENOC's actions in response to the CAL in order to make sure they are thorough and complete.

The FENOC commitments to the NRC include:

- Determine and provide the root cause of the cracks in the shield building, corrective actions, and develop a long-term monitoring program.

- Select multiple areas in the shield building that have no cracks but are adjacent to known cracks to determine whether the area of the cracks has spread.

- Perform additional analysis in known cracked areas to determine whether the width of the cracks has increased.

Even though the NRC has concluded the shield building can perform its safety functions, the NRC will continue to inspect whether the shield building in its current condition meets all design requirements in the plant's license.

Failure to meet the commitments in the CAL may result in additional regulatory action if the utility does not provide reasonable assurance that the NRC can rely on the FENOC to meet the NRC's requirements and protect public health and safety.

On Oct. 10 the NRC was informed by FENOC that while conducting work to replace the Davis-Besse reactor vessel head its workers identified cracks in the shield building. The shield building is a 2.5 foot thick reinforced concrete building that surrounds a 1.5 inch thick steel containment vessel that encloses the reactor. The two buildings are separated by a 4.5 foot space.

The NRC will issue an inspection report documenting its review of this issue and the agency's conclusions 45 days after the inspection is complete.

News releases are available through a free listser, subscription or by clicking on the EMAIL UPDATES link on the NRC homepage (www.nrc.gov). E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's website.