Uranium is a radioactive substance that can cause kidney damage in people exposed to high enough amounts. In July, the NRC reported that uranium had drained through a three-inch-hole in the plant’s floor this year, contaminating soil below the facility with high levels of the radioactive material. Uranium that reportedly leaked through a buried pipe in 2011 is the second issue involving the radioactive material to surface this summer at Westinghouse. Overall, contamination from the plant has not tainted groundwater or creeks in the area, according to DHEC. Groundwater beneath the plant has been polluted with a variety of contaminants since the early 1980s, records show. The company, however, has a history of run-ins with the NRC over safety issues, including a 2016 buildup of uranium that threatened to cause a small nuclear explosion. It is nestled on a 1,200-acre site near a smattering of homes and hunt clubs. The 49-year-old facility, located between Columbia and Congaree National Park, employs about 1,000 people. The expansive plant is one of only three of its kind that makes fuel for the nation’s approximately 100 nuclear power plants. Westinghouse’s Bluff Road plant plays an important role in the nation’s production of atomic energy. Department of Health and Environmental Control says it only found out about the reported 2011 uranium spill in January. The NRC’s statement that safety inspectors did not know about the leak for six years follows assertions by state regulators that they also did not know about it until recently.
More: Angry crowd blasts Westinghouse over nuclear leak many knew little about “We continue to seek more information about the 2011 event and other issues,’’ Ledford said in an email Wednesday to The State.
It now is trying to determine whether Westinghouse should have told the agency’s safety inspectors. Westinghouse, under fire over leaks and spills at the site, said it was not required to tell the NRC about the uranium leak discovered in 2011.īut NRC spokesman Joey Ledford said the agency wants to know more. The leaking uranium, discovered by plant owner Westinghouse in 2011, was unknown to NRC inspectors until the fall of 2017, when they ran across information about the accident while preparing a special environmental study on the plant, the agency told The State newspaper. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says its safety inspectors did not know for six years that uranium had leaked from an atomic fuel factory on Bluff Road, a sprawling industrial plant under scrutiny for past operating practices.
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