CARROLL TOWNSHIP -- Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station will heat
up for five to seven days in January to test nozzles on the bottom
of the reactor vessel.
That heat up, however, will not include a nuclear reaction, said
company spokesman Richard Wilkins.
"We're not actually going to start the reactor itself," he
explained. "It's not going to 'go critical.'"
Officials from the Davis-Besse parent company, FirstEnergy, went
to Nuclear Regulatory Commission headquarters in Maryland Tuesday to
explain the process.
The goal of the tests is to find whether boric acid samples taken
at the bottom of the reactor vessel are the result of a leak or
residual from leakage found back in March.
During a routine refueling outage that started in February,
workers found an unprecedented amount of corrosion on the reactor
head, caused by boric acid in the coolant water.
The company has since replaced the head, but found the boric acid
on the bottom of the vessel, sparking concern that another leak
could be possible.
Davis-Besse workers took samples of the boric acid at the top of
the old reactor head, as well as the rust on the side and bottom of
the vessel. They compared the two samples, but the results were
inconclusive, Wilkins said.
That's why officials are planning to heat the reactor with the
coolant pumps and bring it to full pressure for several days.
"Then we'll cool it back down, take off the insulation and do
visual inspections on the nozzles on the bottom to look for
indications of leakage," Wilkins said. "We really don't think there
is (leakage), but we're going to be doing this to make sure."
NRC spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng said while the federal agency
doesn't have to formally approve the tests, the meeting Tuesday was
one way for regulators to make sure all safety concerns were
addressed.
"Yesterday's meeting was a crucial step going toward the tests,
and when the tests take place our inspectors will be there," she
said. "So far we don't have any major issues with the plan."
Originally published Thursday, November 28, 2002
