Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) wants the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether FirstEnergy Generation Corp. violated federal securities law by misleading investors about a damaged shield building at its Davis-Besse nuclear plant.

Kucinich asked SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro in a letter yesterday to investigate the utility's "material misrepresentations" to investors in a letter last October.

The utility, he said, minimized for investors the extent of cracks found in an outer concrete protective wall at the Davis-Besse reactor, about 35 miles east of Toledo, Ohio. At the same time, the company provided different and more alarming information to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, he said.

"Since the discovery of that cracking, FirstEnergy has issued a number of public statements that have minimized both the nature of the cracking and the function of the shield building itself," Kucinich said. "Those statements stand in sharp contrast to what FirstEnergy has told the" NRC.

The Akron, Ohio-based utility said last month that weather and the absence of exterior sealant allowed cracks to develop in a shield building at the plant (E&ENews PM, Feb. 28). The issue is crucial because FirstEnergy's license to operate the reactor expires in 2017, and the company has applied to the NRC for a 20-year extension.

Kucinich said FirstEnergy didn't explain the real purpose of the shield building to investors and misrepresented the extent to which the outer concrete structure was cracked. Any reduction in the value of the Davis-Besse plant would significantly affect the price of the company's stock, he said.

FirstEnergy told investors it had found "sub-surface hairline cracks" in "the building's architectural elements" that "do not have structural significance," he said. But the utility had actually found laminar cracking adjacent to the main outer steel reinforcement that was so extensive the NRC required FirstEnergy to assume that the main outer vertical steel did not exist, Kucinich said.

"These discrepancies merit an investigation by the SEC into whether or not FirstEnergy has made material misrepresentations to its investors," he said.

Jennifer Young, a spokeswoman for FirstEnergy, took issue with many of Kucinich's points. In an email, she said the company's analysis of the shield building was ongoing when it sent the Oct. 31 letter to investors.

"With respect to Mr. Kucinich's characterization of the crack locations, our extensive analysis indicates that the building has maintained its structural integrity with significant margin to perform its function," she said. "The NRC reviewed our conservative calculations supporting this conclusion prior to restart."

FirstEnergy last month agreed to apply an exterior protective sealant to the shield building, conduct additional inspections to ensure the cracks have not spread and develop a long-term monitoring plan.

Kucinich has been a longtime critic of the company and its past safety problems. Notably, the plant was shut down between 2002 and 2004 for an acid leak that later cost the company $5.45 million in fines and $28 million in civil penalties.

Kucinich was defeated in his bid for a ninth term in the Democratic primary earlier this month by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D), in a race where the Davis-Besse plant became an issue.