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The Quotes of the year See page 10
January 7, 2013
FREE
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Bluegrass Fest See page 13
Serving The Eastern Maumee Bay Communities Since 1972
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After 20 years
Maumee Bay is starting to freeze up By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com Oregon Councilwoman Sandy Bihn, who is also Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper, said winter activities on Maumee Bay once enjoyed by residents are now returning, thanks to cooler temperatures and less heated water being discharged from FirstEnergy’s power plant on Bay Shore Road. “Most of the Oregon shoreline along Maumee Bay is freezing - at least for now. What a treat,” said Bihn. “We may be able to once again skate, ice fish, etc.” When Bihn’s family moved to their current home on Bay Shore Road in 1987, the ice on the bay was thick. “We were able to go out on the ice and walk along the shoreline on ice. It was great,” she said. “But all of a sudden, we couldn’t do it anymore.” Bihn said in the 1990s, Maumee Bay stopped freezing over. “I called many people and asked why and was told any number of supposed reasons, but no one mentioned the Bay Shore power plant,” said Bihn. The plant, located on the south shore of Lake Erie, near the confluence of the Maumee River and Maumee Bay in Oregon, had added another unit and increased the amount of water it used by about 200 million gallons a day. Many power plants use water for cooling. The water that is discharged from the Bay Shore plant, often referred to as a “thermal plume,” is about 10 degrees warmer than the water taken in, according to Bihn. “For nearly 20 years, I watched the so called ‘thermal plume’ keep the waters from freezing, from the plant to Maumee Bay State Park - over two miles in distance. Going out on the ice was unsafe,” said Bihn. The Bay Shore plant, which at one time used up to 750 million gallons of water per day, has closed three of its four units, due to FirstEnergy’s announcement earlier last year that it would close several power plants because of air emission standards
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uote of The Week
We are surrounded by people who are telling us what’s wrong with everyone else. Bryan Golden See page 11
Oregon racer slipping and sliding at Hangover Races While the sun was shining in the metro Toledo area on New Year’s Day, lake-effect snow was causing problems at Sandusky Speedway’s 33rd Annual Hangover Race. The snow caused races, which are run in any kind of weather, to be challenging for stock car drivers and entertaining for just under 1,000 fans. Pictured, Oregon racer Mark Pollock, who placed second in his heat and fourth in the Champagne Stocks feature at the Hangover Races. See story on page 12. (Press photo by Russ Lytle)
Group challenges license extension
Davis-Besse opponents to press on By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublicaitons.com A coalition of environmental groups vowed to continue its challenge to an operating license extension for the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station after a federal board ruled against two of their motions. The coalition of Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environmental Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don’t Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio has contended that a shield building where cracks have been found is vulnerable to additional stress, contrary to analysis of the FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., which is applying to the Atomic Safety Licensing Board for a 20year license extension. The current license is scheduled to expire in 2017. The board late last month approved a FENOC motion to dismiss the coalition’s challenge to what is called the Severe Accident Mitigation Alternatives analyses the company conducted. In particular, the coalition questioned the company’s reliance on a computer code, Modular Accident Analysis Program, that nuclear plant operators use to simulate various scenarios.
“We conclude that FENOC’s use of the MAAP code to generate fission product source terms for use in the Davis-Besse SAMA analysis is reasonable…” the licensing board wrote in its decision. Terry Lodge, an attorney representing the coalition, said the company’s use of the code doesn’t adequately reflect the condition of the containment building. “In dismissing our SAMA contention, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and the Atomic Safety Licensing Board have embraced FENOC’s assumption, built into its computer modeling, that Davis-Besse’s containment will function as designed,” Lodge said. “But this is impossible, for the shield building is severely cracked, and could well fail due to any small added stress, such as a mild earthquake, tornado, or hear and pressure build-up from a reactor meltdown, This is not over. We will continue tracking NRC’s interactions with FENOC about the cracks.” FENOC issued a report last February that cited the absence of an exterior weather proof coating on the concrete building as a factor in the cracking, allowing moisture to migrate into the concrete and then freeze and expand. The extreme weather conditions of the 1978 blizzard contributed to the problem,
the report said. The cracking was discovered in October 2011 when the power station was shut down as scheduled for a new reactor vessel head, The company initially described the problem as a “sub-surface hairline crack” discovered while workers were cutting into the side of the building to remove the old reactor head. The building is made of 2 ½ feet-thick reinforced concrete and is designed to protect the steel containment vessel. There is a space of about 4 ½ feet between the shield building and the containment vessel. Michael Keegan, of Don’t Waste Michigan, described the company’s blizzard analysis as a “snow job.” “The weather sealant whitewash applied four decades now prevents independent inspection of the multiple surface cracks,” he said. The licensing board also rejected the coalition’s contention that a planned replacement in two years of a steam generator poses additional risk of more cracking, calling it “mere speculation.” FirstEnergy retained independent contractors it considered experts to conduct an analysis of the cracking problem. Inspectors from the NRC also were involved in the analysis.