TOLEDO - The government said Thursday it found 10 violations at a nuclear plant where an acid leak nearly ate through a 6-inch-thick steel reactor cap.

The plant's operator, FirstEnergy Corp. of Akron, failed to take action to correct safety concerns and violated rules for operating the reactor, the report said.

The boric acid leak at the Davis-Besse plant was the most extensive corrosion ever found on a U.S. nuclear reactor and led to a nationwide review of all 69 similar plants. A second, smaller hole was found later at the plant.

Inspectors found the leak in March, during a maintenance shutdown at the plant near Toledo. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said it should have been spotted as many as four years ago.

The latest report from the NRC inspectors said the violations included failure to remove large amounts of acid on the reactor head, which led to nozzle cracking, and failure to notice acid deposits on air coolers.

FirstEnergy spokesman Richard Wilkins said the findings were consistent with the company's investigations. He said the company already has fixed some of the problems.

``We weren't really surprised by anything in that report,'' Wilkins said. He said, however, that the company expects to be fined.

FirstEnergy is spending about $200 million to repair the plant, install a new cap and buy replacement power until it is restarted. It has been shut down since Feb. 16.