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Costly cracks in Davis-Besse nuclear reactor

FirstEnergy finds cracks at Ohio nuclear reactor,

* Davis-Besse shut to replace reactor vessel head

* Small cracks found in concrete shield building

NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) – FirstEnergy said it discovered small cracks in the concrete shield building surrounding the containment structure at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Ohio, which was shut for another reactor vessel head replacement, a spokesman for the Ohio-based energy company said Monday…..

Crystal River has been shut since September 2009 after workers discovered a gap in the concrete containment dome after they cut through the structure to replace the plant’s aging steam generators. The plant is not expected to return until at least 2014….

This is Davis-Besse’s third reactor vessel head.

It cost the company about $600 million to replace the first vessel head ($300 million) and buy replacement power ($300 million) after workers in 2002 discovered borated water, which acts as the reactor coolant, leaked from a control rod drive mechanism and ate a six inch hole in the first vessel head. The plant did not return to service until 2004.

In 2010 during a scheduled refueling outage, the company found small cracks in the control rod nozzels and decided to replace the second vessel head. Schneider said this head replacement project would cost about $115 million…..

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/17/utilities-operations-firstenergy-davis-idUSN1E79G0KR20111017

October 18, 2011 - Posted by | incidents, USA

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