PORT CLINTON, Ohio -- FirstEnergy Corp. said it's close to being ready to restart the Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant. But in "Special Assignment," NewsChannel5's Ted Hart looked inside some of the government's documents that spell out a potential nuclear disaster.

The plant has been sitting idle since February 2002. For residents who live just a few miles down wind, they like it that way.

"It's a peaceful feeling to look out and not see the steam coming out of the reactor. But at this point it would make me very nervous and it would be a concern to see it every day," said Port Clinton resident Barb Cabral.

After months of investigating and thousands of pages of study, Hart said that it's clear the hole in the reactor head caused by leaking boric acid was far more serious than originally thought.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader stands with those who say Davis Besse should not be allowed to restart.

"You don't need Davis Besse and certainly don't need a Davis Besse that could end up in a meltdown that could take out a portion of Ohio," Nader said.

A video shows workers using a crow bar to chip away all the corrosive buildup left by the leaking boric acid.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimated that had the problem gone undetected, within another year or so, the stainless steel liner already cracking would have given way. Company officials said even if backup systems to backup systems had failed, ultimately the containment vessel would have done its job.

"It would have ruined the plant and cost the company a lot of money, but it would not have endangered the local community," said Richard Wilkins with FirstEnergy.

Over the past 20 months, First Energy has spent more than $400 million on repairs and retraining.

While much of the debate has focused on whether the plant should be allowed to restart, NewsChannel5 has obtained a copy of a study that suggests a potentially bigger risk. It focuses on the stockpiles of spent fuel.

The study, conducted in 2000 at the request of the NRC, concludes in a worst-case scenario that as many as 25,000 people could die from exposure to radiation in an accident involving spent fuel.

"A radioactive cloud from Davis Besse can go right over Cleveland," Nader said.

The federal government hopes to eventually store all the spent fuel inside Yucca Mountain in Nevada. But until that happens, it's stored in pools at more than 100 nuclear power facilities across the country. The study was classified after Sept. 11, 2001. According to Nader, that proof the government knows just how vulnerable the nuclear industry is and that spent fuel is its soft underbelly.

"This is what happens when people looked the other way when nuclear power was rammed down their throats 35 years ago," Nader said.

The study also points out that the risk of a spent fuel incident is very low.

"The likelihood that that can be done is extremely remote. There's a lot more risk in the world, in this area much more likely to, I don't know how that scenario would actually occur," Wilkins said.

But some who live nearby say they have reason to be concerned.

"They say that their safeguards are such that there's no risk, but we were told that about the plant, too," said Port Clinton resident Donna Lueke.

And FirstEnergy hopes to have the plant ready to restart within a month.