The most recent revelations about problems at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station seem to lend support to those who doubt that the plant's operators are giving enough priority to safety issues.

According to a weekend report in The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, the operator of the Davis-Besse nuclear plant failed to provide federal regulators a photo that shows corrosion stains on its reactor lid.

The photo wasn't in the batch of images FirstEnergy Corp. provided the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in November 2001 to justify postponing a costly shutdown to inspect the lid.

A company spokesman defended the action by saying that the NRC had not specifically asked for such a picture.

The NRC, however, says that the agency asked the company to provide all information to support continued operation.

We don't pretend to know who is technically correct in this particular situation, but we do know that the failure to provide the photo creates serious doubts about the company's concern about safety.

Through the months of effort to correct problems and restart the plant, FirstEnergy Corp. has insisted that safety was its top priority. This failure to be cooperative in this crucial investigation surely must raise new doubts among the plant's neighbors.

Davis-Besse has been shut down since February. The NRC began investigating after leaks allowed boric acid to eat a hole almost through the six-inch thick steel lid that covers the plant's reactor vessel. The leaks were discovered in March during a maintenance shutdown.

It was the most extensive corrosion ever at a U.S. nuclear reactor and led to a nationwide review of all 69 similar plants.

The problems led to several investigations, including a congressional inquiry.

Obviously, it is a situation that is being taken seriously; one that requires cooperation to achieve the best resolution; one that demands real openness to achieve public confidence in the resumption of operations.

The April 2000 photo in question shows rust trails the color of dried blood spilling from inspection ports on the reactor's sloping dome.

The photo didn't surface until April, on page 93 of a thick FirstEnergy report. The document attempts to explain in hindsight how the company had allowed boric acid sludge left behind by leaking reactor coolant to eat a hole in the reactor lid.

Experts say that the photo would have signaled serious corrosion problems and could have expedited the inquiry and decision-making process if it had been seen earlier.

This plant should not be restarted until the various agencies are confident in its safety, and that becomes more difficult when the plant's operators are not forthcoming with information.

Originally published Thursday, December 5, 2002