12/04/02

For months now, FirstEnergy Corp. offi cials have clung to the tale that they never sought to mislead the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the problem of boric acid slowly eating a hole in the lid of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant's reactor.

They would admit to being inept, but not criminal.

Now, that story has been dashed by a picture of the damaged, rust-stained lid that the company had in its possession, but failed to include in a packet it sent to the NRC last November, when it was lobbying to postpone the plant's inspection.

That picture points to more than cosmetic trouble with the lid.

FirstEnergy also told the NRC the lid had been thoroughly cleaned, although it had not.

FirstEnergy got the delay it wanted. The inspection didn't take place until March. The photo didn't surface until April.

The timing stinks, and the NRC's investigation of a possibility cover-up is perfectly just.

FirstEnergy, of course, denies that. The photograph was "there for the asking," said Todd Schneider, company spokesman.

He blamed the company's mistakes on poor internal communication about the photo and ignorance of boric acid's dangers.

But as an NRC official pointed out, the agency had asked the company for all information that would help decide whether the lid inspection should be delayed. Obviously, that significant photo should have been included.

This entire episode raises disturbing questions about the NRC's regulation system.

The agency has been too trusting of its licensees to be honest about safety. And companies will always be tempted to put production above safety and maintenance.

How could this situation get worse? Congressman Dennis Kucinich has a suggestion.

He points out that the Homeland Security bill exempts utility and chemical companies from the Freedom of Information Act if they voluntarily relate information about infrastructure to the Department of Homeland Security.

The administration fears that terrorists could use the information to attack such plants.

The exemption from FOIA inquiry does not apply if the information in question is supposed to be shared with other government agencies. But critics fear that companies might try to seal off what should be public information by shunting it off to Homeland Security. Besides, they say, the FOIA already includes national security provisions.

Why should the public believe that a nuclear plant, for example, might send a particularly ugly photo of its reactor lid off to Homeland Security's very tight vault? The short answer is, the public shouldn't.