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"Until FirstEnergy Corp. implements measures to ensure Davis-Besse nuclear plant's reactor does not violate federal health and safety regulations, the Oak Harbor nuclear plant should not be allowed to restart, the Union of Concerned Scientists said. The science group Monday asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to keep Davis-Besse idle until it solves problems with leaking cracks in its reactor. Federal regulations require reactors be shut down immediately whenever such leakage occurs, it noted. FirstEnergy does not yet have a time line for when Davis-Besse - which was idled Feb. 28 for normal refueling and maintenance - is expected to be repaired and restarted, spokesman Todd Schneider said. Several of Davis-Besse's 69 control-rod drive mechanism nozzles were found to be cracked or otherwise damaged, and some had leaked. A repair plan is to be submitted to the NRC."

Andrew Siemaszko, a former nuclear safety engineer at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, will go on trial this Friday for allegedly lying to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) about conditions leading to a near-disaster at the plant in 2002. NRC documents, however, show that Siemaszko is not to blame. It was FirstEnergy, the plant's owners, which falsified reports to the NRC, not Siemaszko. In fact, Siemaszko was one work shift away from discovering the problem at Davis-Besse while cleaning the reactor head in 2000, but FirstEnergy prevented him from completing his task.

FirstEnergy, owner of Davis-Besse nuclear power plant and operator of seven electric utility companies, laid off 335 employees Tuesday. Advertisement FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said 29 of those worked in the Toledo area, which includes Davis-Besse, but Durbin couldn't say how many Davis-Besse employees were laid off. "Employees were notified today," Durbin said, "and severance packages were given." Durbin said packages included 1.5 weeks' pay for every full year of service as well the company's continuing contribution toward health benefits during that time. Durbin said the layoffs covered FirstEnergy's entire operation, which includes portions of Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey and Maryland. "It's something we didn't want to do," he said, "but based on the current economic climate it's something we had to do." Durbin said lower energy consumption by residential, industrial and business customers meant the company had to cut its operations, as well.

"The biennial shutdown of Davis-Besse nuclear power plant is bringing hundreds of contractors -- and their money -- to Ottawa County. "Every two years we shut down the plant to refuel the reactor," said Todd Schneider, spokesman for First Energy. "We're going to have about 1,200 contractors in the area during that period of time, plus about 100 additional First Energy employees in the area from our other two nuclear plants. They come and assist.""

FirstEnergy Corp. faces disciplinary action because its Davis-Besse operators "failed to recognize the hazard to the station's operations" caused by a June 25 explosion inside the electrical transmission switchyard, according to a letter the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent to the utility. The NRC's letter, dated Monday, said operators should have immediately recognized the explosion met federal emergency action level conditions for declaring an alert. The agency said it will allow FirstEnergy to explain in greater detail what happened before deciding whether to proceed with enforcement. The explosion occurred as repairs were being made to electrical equipment. There were no injuries or radiation releases and the nuclear reactor never stopped operating.

FirstEnergy Corp. faces disciplinary action because its Davis-Besse operators "failed to recognize the hazard to the station's operations" caused by a June 25 explosion inside the electrical transmission switchyard, according to a letter the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent to the utility. The NRC's letter, dated Monday, said operators should have immediately recognized the explosion met federal emergency action level conditions for declaring an alert. The agency said it will allow FirstEnergy to explain in greater detail what happened before deciding whether to proceed with enforcement. The explosion occurred as repairs were being made to electrical equipment. There were no injuries or radiation releases and the nuclear reactor never stopped operating.

"The American nuclear industry, primed to begin new construction projects for the first time in 30 years, is about as eager for an operating problem at an old reactor as the oil industry was for a well blowout on the eve of opening the Atlantic coast to oil drilling. Nonetheless, a nuclear reactor where a hidden leak caused near-catastrophic corrosion in 2002 has experienced a second bout of the same problem. In 2002, the plant, Davis-Besse, in Oak Harbor, Ohio, developed leaks in parts on the vessel head, allowing cooling water from inside the vessel, at 2,200 pounds per square inch of pressure, to leak out."

"A federal appeals court has upheld the convictions of two former nuclear plant workers in Ohio who were found guilty of helping to cover up the worst corrosion ever found at a U.S. reactor. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati found no reason to overturn the convictions of Andrew Siemaszko and David Geisen. Both were sentenced to probation and fined for misleading regulators in 2001 to delay a safety inspection at the Davis-Besse plant along Lake Erie. Inspectors later found an acid leak that nearly ate through the reactor's 6-inch-thick steel cap. The plant operated by FirstEnergy Corp. was shut down from early 2002 until 2004."

Judge David Katz of U.S. District Court has upheld the guilty verdicts against Andrew Siemaszko, paving the way for the last of three men to be tried for the Davis-Besse cover-up to be sentenced Feb. 6. The judge acknowledged that Siemaszko's conviction was "a close case," but said he found "sufficient circumstantial evidence upon which a reasonable jury could have based a finding of knowledge and intent."

Attorneys for Andrew Siemaszko Thursday sought an acquittal for their client on the grounds that the one-time Davis-Besse employee was oblivious to errors in key documents that went to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission weeks before the plant's old reactor head nearly blew apart in 2002. A former systems engineer who FirstEnergy put in charge of the reactor head despite inadequate training for that job, Siemaszko was convicted in August by a U.S. District Court jury in Toledo on three of five felony charges of withholding vital information from a government agency. Now a resident of Spring, Texas, Siemaszko faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. He is to be sentenced Feb. 6 unless Judge David Katz overturns the verdicts.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), an independent judicial arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will provide a live video stream of the first day of its hearing concerning the NRC's Enforcement Order against former Davis-Besse employee David Geisen. The live video stream is part of an ASLB pilot program examining how information technology can enhance the public's ability to observe the Board's activities. The video stream, which will be archived for 90 days, will be available at this Web site: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=53643. The video, scheduled to start Dec. 8 shortly before 9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, will be available in Windows Media and QuickTime formats. The hearing will begin Dec. 8 at 9:30 a.m. and could last the entire week; the commencement of the hearing on subsequent days will be determined during the course of the hearing. The public may observe the proceeding in person, except for any closed sessions, in the ALSB Hearing Facility, Room T-3B45 of the agency's Two White Flint North building, at 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md.

Six of 11 groundwater-monitoring wells on FirstEnergy Corp.'s Davis-Besse nuclear complex are well below the government's threshold for radioactive tritium, according to results the utility released yesterday. Results on the other five wells are expected next week, spokesman Todd Schneider said. The six wells on which FirstEnergy has data are ones most prone to leak radioactive tritium, which the company found on Oct. 22, Mr. Schneider said. Tritium is a water-based, radioactive material that is a by-product of nuclear fission and a natural substance in the environment.

Radioactive tritium has been found leaking from a drainage pipe at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Davis-Besse nuclear plant north of Oak Harbor, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday. First Energy Corp. personnel discovered the leaking tritium 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Former FirstEnergy Corp. engineer Andrew Siemaszko was convicted yesterday on three of five counts of intentionally misleading federal regulators about the danger at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant in Ottawa County in 2001. The verdicts were the final ones in a seven-year saga that has had national implications for the nuclear industry as it plans for a rebirth to help meet America's rising energy needs.

A former Davis Besse nuclear plant engineer found guilty of hiding information about the worst corrosion ever found at a U.S. reactor was sentenced Thursday to three years probation.

Former Davis-Besse engineer Andrew Siemaszko was sentenced Friday to three years probation and ordered to pay $4,500 in fines for his role in the Ottawa County nuclear plant's massive cover-up in the fall of 2001 that government prosecutors have called one of the most significant in the nation's nuclear history. Siemaszko was one of only two individuals convicted. Both could have received five years in prison and been fined $250,000 for each of the three felony deception charges they were convicted on 10 months apart in 2008 and 2007. Ultimately, neither got prison time.

Federal regulators are looking into the cause of an explosion that occurred early Thursday morning inside the electrical transmission switchyard on FirstEnergy Corp.'s Davis-Besse nuclear complex. No injuries occurred, and no radiation was released. The plant's nuclear reactor, shielded by a steel containment shell and concrete building well-removed from the blast, never stopped operating.

"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent a special inspection team to FirstEnergy Corp's 879-megawatt Davis-Besse nuclear power plant to look into indications of cracks in multiple reactor vessel head nozzles. Stocks | Industrials | Utilities The NRC said there was no danger to the public from these cracks since the plant has been shut for scheduled refueling. Before the plant can resume operations, the NRC said it must be satisfied the problem has been addressed. Earlier this week, FirstEnergy could not say whether the repairs would add to the length of the refueling outage."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday released internal records that show one of its senior employees filed a pair of complaints questioning the agency's own diligence in obtaining Davis-Besse documents from FirstEnergy Corp. in 2005 and 2007. Those records also show the employee, Jim Gavula, was later told by NRC brass that the agency - highly critical of FirstEnergy in the past - believes it did everything within its power to get more cooperation. Mr. Gavula, an NRC employee for 24 years who now helps the agency review technical documents, filed the complaints as a senior reactor inspector in 2006 and 2008. Such records, often kept secret, were authorized by Mr. Gavula to be made public."

"Three degrees might not sound like much. But according to FirstEnergy Corp., a three-degree reduction in Davis-Besse's operating temperature will provide enough safety over the next two years to ensure there is no additional cracking of the steel nozzles that penetrate the reactor's interim head. Now it's up to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to decide whether it agrees with the utility's analysis of what caused 24 of the massive steel device's 69 nozzles to either develop flaws or full-blown cracks. One had been leaking reactor acid on top of the lid when the flaws were found in mid-March, though - unlike eight years ago - the problem was caught long before any noticeable amount of steel had melted, according to Vito Kaminskas, Davis-Besse's director of plant engineering."

"A cracked containment lid at a nuclear power plant in Ohio needs replacing, and a new one will be installed in 2011, plant officials say. FirstEnergy Corp. has purchased a replacement lid for the Davis-Besse reactor near Toledo, Ohio, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Monday. The plant has been closed since Feb. 28 for work to repair cracks in its lid. Such cracks can allow radioactive coolant into the facilities containment building, the newspaper said."