$5.45 million fine set for leak at nuclear plant

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed a record $5.45 million fine Thursday against the operator of a nuclear plant where leaking acid ate nearly all the way through a 6-inch-thick steel cap on the reactor vessel.

The NRC said FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. restarted the Davis-Besse plant in 2000 without completing a cleaning and inspection of the reactor vessel head, then misled the agency about what it had done.

The leaking boric acid was found two years later during a routine inspection — the most extensive corrosion ever seen at a U.S. nuclear reactor.