FirstEnergy Corp. said it had hired contractors to repair two areas of cracks in the outer layer of concrete of the 296-feet tall containment building at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant near Toledo, Ohio, that has been blamed on freezing and thawing conditions during a blizzard in 1978.
The work, which is expected to take seven weeks, will not involve shutting down the plant, although it includes chipping away two sections of the facade of the building's concrete, which altogether measures two and a half feet thick. It will not involve full penetration of the concrete, said a FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young.
The building has a circumference of 452 feet and a diameter of 144 feet.
Other cracks, which pose no threat to the public, will be repaired at a later date. The cracks in the facade were discovered when the building was opened up to allow for replacement of the reactor head in 2011. Ultasonic inspections revealed cracks of about one-eight of an inch thick in the outer layer of concrete. The building, at that point, was waterproofed and subjected to closer monitoring.
The original cracks found was only five-thousandths of an inch wide, while measuring about 30-feet long, the Associated Press reported. The cracks, however, have not damaged the integrity of the structure, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has confirmed.
“Even though the building continues to perform its function safely as is with the cracks, this just give us some added assurance for the future,” spokeswoman Young said.