Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Toledo area

OAK HARBOR -- The operator of an Ohio nuclear reactor where cracks were discovered in the plant's concrete shell says it alerted regulators last month to more cracks near the top of the structure.

A spokeswoman for FirstEnergy Corp. told The Associated Press on Wednesday the cracks were found in November.

The company previously had only publicly stated that cracks at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant outside Toledo had been found near the bottom of a wall designed to protect the reactor from anything that might hit it from the outside, including storm debris. The first cracks were found in October.

FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young says the utility informed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission immediately after the new cracks were found and never tried to hide anything.

The plant shut down the reactor in early October and restarted it Tuesday.