Repairs have corrected a small corrosion problem in the Unit 2 nuclear reactor vessel head at Energy Harbor Corp.’s Beaver Valley Power Station.
According to an April 24 inspection report by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, one of 66 reactor vessel head penetrations was “degraded” and required work before the unit is restarted. The issue was discovered during a routine inspection of the reactor while the unit was offline for refueling.
The problem “was not through wall,” and “there was no evidence of leakage,” the report stated. “There was no impact on the health and safety of the public or plant personnel.”
Diane Screnci, an NRC spokeswoman, said plant operators are required to examine the reactor head penetration welds routinely.
“For Beaver Valley 2, they must inspect all welds each outage,” she said in an email response to questions. “This is to ensure they proactively address any flaws identified, before they become an issue.”
Ms. Screnci said Beaver Valley 2 has its original head. The head is a caplike structure at the top of the reactor. There are penetrations or holes in the head through which rods are inserted to control the radioactive fuel inside.
Head corrosion and replacement have been issues at other nuclear reactors, most notably in 2002, at FirstEnergy’s 879-megawatt Davis-Bessie Nuclear Power Plant on Lake Erie in northwestern Ohio, now also owned by Energy Harbor.
According to the NRC, FirstEnergy was fined more than $5 million — then the largest NRC fine ever — for violations leading to the corrosion, and an additional $28 million in a U.S. Justice Department settlement.
Jason Copsey, senior account executive at Energy Harbor, said the inspection finding was reported to the NRC as a “non-emergency notification.”
“A thorough inspection of all reactor vessel head penetrations is standard work scope for each refueling outage at Beaver Valley. The inspection identified one penetration that was not dispositioned as acceptable and would require minor repair,” Mr. Copsey said in an email response to questions. “The repairs have been made and the outage remains on schedule.”
Mr. Copsey said repairs were made according to “tightly defined industry requirements using a weld buildup procedure.”
He said Unit 2 was shut down for refueling Apr. 12, but declined to say when it would restart because of business considerations, except that it is expected to start on schedule. He said there are no plans to replace the reactor head.
The nuclear power plant, located along the Ohio River in Shippingport, Beaver County — 33 miles northwest of Pittsburgh — was purchased by Energy Harbor from FirstEnergy Corp. in March.
The power station, which has two nuclear units, employs 1,000 people and has a total capacity of 1,872 megawatts, enough to power more than 1 million homes. The Unit 1 reactor is operating.
In March 2018, FirstEnergy notified regulators it would deactivate the nuclear plants in 2021, but Energy Harbor said last month it will keep the power plants open, citing Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s efforts to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program to cap and reduce climate changing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants in 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983. Twitter: @donhopey.
First Published: April 27, 2020, 9:43 p.m.
