The Associated Press

OAK HARBOR, Ohio - Owners of the Davis-Besse nuclear plant say an engineer who claimed he was fired for raising safety concerns deserves much of the blame for missing signs of an acid leak that has kept the plant shut down for more than a year.

FirstEnergy Corp. told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that engineer Andrew Siemaszko's firing was warranted because he did not meet "even minimal company standards."

Siemaszko's inattention to detail "significantly contributed to inaccurate and incomplete information being provided to the NRC," said Bob Saunders, president of FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. Saunders' comments were included in a letter sent to the NRC earlier this month in response to a petition by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland to have Davis-Besse's license revoked.

Siemaszko supervised workers assigned to perform maintenance on the reactor head where an acid leak nearly ate through a 6-inch-thick steel cap. He was fired in September.

It was the most extensive corrosion ever at a U.S. nuclear reactor.

Siemaszko has said he was wrongly fired and that he had told his supervisors that the reactor needed to be cleaned since 1999. His whistle-blower complaint said he discovered the reactor lid had not been cleaned well since 1996, but that managers rejected his requests.

His attorney, Billie Garde, said Thursday that the company is trying to make him a scapegoat.

"Their attempt to saddle the complete breakdown of the company on Andrew's shoulders is bizarre, particularly in light of what the company has already admitted," Garde said.

The company has said it missed warning signs that should have alerted it to the corrosion damage at the plant along Lake Erie.

NRC officials have said increasing workers' focus on safety must be improved before they allow the plant to restart. First-Energy said the plant might not produce electricity until mid- to late June.

Richard Wilkins, a company spokesman, said Siemaszko is one of 18 people who have been disciplined for performances related to the shutdown.

He said the company is holding accountable people "in key places" who could have done more to bring problems to managers' attention.