WKSU News: Public meeting shown how regulators came to their decision

Friday, August 10, 2012 Public meeting shown how regulators came to their decision Turnout was light for the information session by WKSU's TIM RUDELL	Reporter Tim Rudell

Cleveland area Congressman Dennis Kucinich, flanked by nuclear power opponents, talks with reporters before the Thursday evening meeting in Oak Harbor

Courtesy of Rudell

Several dozen nuclear power opponents gathered outside the High School in Oak Harbor Thursday evening The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was about to hold a public meeting to explain why it allowed nearby Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station to go operational again after cracks were found in the plant’s concrete “shield building” last fall. That’s the giant silo like structure over what’s called the containment vessel--where the nuclear reactor is housed.

A quarter of an hour before the meeting Cleveland Congressman Dennis Kucinich, himself an outspoken opponent of nuclear power, held a news conference.

Over the drone of TV live truck generators he said he does not believe Davis Besse’s owner (Akron-based First Energy) or the NRC when they say cracks in the shield building were caused by winds of the blizzard of 1978, or that the cracks pose no danger.

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Cracks in the concrete of the shield building (large structure in the right background) were found when workers cut a big hole in it to bring in a new head for the nuclear reactor housed inside

drawing of cross section of the building showing the part of its concrete wall where cracking was found. First Energy and the NRC say this is not a structurally significant area--opponents of the plant say they don't believe that

NRC set up posters with descriptions and graphic representations of the plant and its constructio

Charles Castro, Administrator of NRC Region III (which includes Northern Ohio)

NRC officials at the meeting (left to right) Charles Castro, Ann Marie Stone, Melvin Holmberg

Turnout for the information session was light compared to the audiences for hearings held at the Oak Harbor High School location in the past

“…I’m not just here to support this community, and the people of Ohio who deserve a safe environment, but I’m here to support the truth….”

But, while audience questions were noted during the three hour meeting, no new rulings or directives arose from the session because it was not a hearing. It was an after-the-fact informational presentation for the NRC to describe how it analyzed the shield building issues; and how it reached the decision to approve a First Energy plan for dealing with the cracks by applying a weather sealant to the concrete and intensifying future inspections of the structure.