Photo Credit: "Nightscribe" 5/9/02
The First Energy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) executives
in charge of DBNPS:
Seated, from left to right: Dave
Eshelman, Director Nuclear Support Services; John Messina,
Director of Work Management; Lew
Myers, FENOC Sr VP and Chief Operating Officer-recently
placed in charge of the DB Restart Program; Howard
Bergendahl, DBNPS Vice President; Randy Fast,
DBNPS General Plant Manager; and Steve Moffett,
DBNPS Director, Technical Services.
Not pictured, but present in the audience, was Bob Saunders, FENOC President.
The goal of this group is obvious: to direct and focus the
DBNPS Team efforts to restart Davis Besse. They
will regularly interface with the NRC IMC0350 Panel, and participate in future
IMC0350 Public Meetings
in which their progress and plans will be reported to the NRC. During the
meeting of 5-9-02, the NRC
told DBNPS and the public that future IMC0350 panel meetings will be conducted
locally on a monthly basis.
There are two paths of recovery under consideration:
1. Reactor Head repair using a forged disk,
welded into a hole approximately 17.5 inches in diameter.
This method was discouraged strongly by the NRC in an
earlier public meeting in Rockville Md.
(NRC headquarters review of the Root Cause report on
5-7-02) One of the reasons for the NRC
position: such a repair is a "First"... a
technical national precedent, requiring Reactor Physics analysis,
and other very rigorous calculations and
evaluations - such as those used for developing the Risk
Significance Analysis.
2. Reactor Vessel Closure Head replacement:
The NRC says the "path to success will be faster" for this
method, due to the intended part from the Midland
Michigan plant is of the same original design;
and is unused, being placed in the never-fueled and
operated Midland Plant 's containment Building.
It is expected to last at least 10 years, after which time
it will be replaced by a new head fitted with the
upgraded (Boric Acid resistant) Inconel 690 CRDM
nozzles.