PORT CLINTON, OH (WTOL) – Several people opposed to the re-opening of the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant showed up to a public hearing tonight in Port Clinton, where the Nuclear Regulatory Commission explained why the plant is safe.
The NRC gave Davis-Besse permission to re-open on December 6th, after it was determined that the cracks in the shield building were not on the outside, and therefore did not allow moisture or air in. The rebar protecting the reactor was never degraded.
"If there was any doubt in our mind that it was not safe, it would have not been allowed to resume operations and we came to that conclusion through an independent evaluation of First Energy's review and engineering assessment." explained James Cameron of the NRC.
"The restraint we placed on ourselves meant that we could not restart the plant until we knew that building was safe. And we're very confident with that." Jennifer Young, the First Energy spokesman told us.
However, nuclear power opponent Congressman Dennis Kucinich said that First Energy was not honest with the public when it claimed the cracks were only found in architectural features of the building:
"This is a crack in the structure and tonight is the first time that we have heard First Energy admit this."
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur defends the plant, and wants to make sure that it is preserved:
"Shutting down the plant would also cause rates to rise for all of our consumers and that's something that we don't want to do. So the NRC has assured the safety of the plant.
First Energy says that the plant is committed to additional actions over the next several months, including an evaluation of the root cause of the cracks, and doing follow-up inspections to make sure those cracks aren't spreading.
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