FirstEnergy to replace lid on Davis-Besse nuclear power plant

From Cleveland.com:

FirstEnergy Corp. said Monday it has purchased a replacement lid for the Davis-Besse reactor near Toledo and wants to install it in 2011.

Davis-Besse has been shut down since Feb. 28 for extensive work to repair cracks in the lid that sprouted unexpectedly in critical components. Such cracks can allow radioactive coolant into the reactor's containment building -- or worse. Federal rules require an immediate shutdown if leaks are detected.

The cracks are similar to fissures that opened up in the late 1990s in parts of Davis-Besse's original lid and led to a pineapple-sized corrosion hole in that lid before it was discovered in 2002.

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