09/06/02

The staff and management of the Davis-Besse nuclear plant made poor decisions in operating the reactor and dealing with federal regulators, but did nothing to break the law, according to FirstEnergy Corp.

Those findings were made by a law firm the company retained to review staff activities at the troubled plant during the past decade.

"While they certainly found . . . decisions that we wish had been made differently, actions we wish had been done differently . . . our outside counsel has not found any activities . . . which would rise to criminal," said FirstEnergy vice president Terrance Howson.

Howson made the comments yesterday to stock analysts attending a conference for energy companies in New York City. A FirstEnergy spokesman identified the law firm as Morgan Lewis, of Washington, D.C., but said the company would not release the firm's report.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting its own probe into whether actions at the Toledo-area plant were criminal and has not yet made a determination.

That investigation and six others by the agency and Congress stem from the discovery in March of a large rust hole that had been growing undetected in the reactor's lid for up to eight years. The plant has been shut down since spring. It will not be restarted until the NRC is satisfied it can be operated safely and management reforms have been made.

Howson told analysts who follow energy utilities that in spite of all of the scrutiny, the company still expects to have the reactor ready to operate before year's end.

Because the NRC has the final say about the plant's readiness, FirstEnergy has bought replacement power into the spring - at an estimated cost of $10 million to $15 million a month - on the chance that Davis-Besse must remain idle, Howson said.

To reach these Plain Dealer reporters:

jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4842

jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138