Westinghouse shuts down part of S.C. nuclear fuel plant over safety concerns
Nuclear regulators are investigating why Westinghouse Electric Co. ended up with three times the safe amount of uranium stuck inside a scrubber at its nuclear fuel factory in Columbia, S.C., and why it took the company more than a month to notify regulators when the situation should have been reported within 24 hours.
When the Cranberry-based company did contact the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in mid-July, federal regulators sent out a team to investigate, and Westinghouse shut down that portion of the plant. The NRC is still piecing together what happened and might be finished with its investigation in several weeks, said spokesman Roger Hannah.
In the meantime, the agency has deemed the uranium concentration was high enough that there might have been potential for an uncontrolled nuclear reaction that could have caused a small explosion. Last week, it sent a memo to Westinghouse outlining what the company will need to do before it can apply to restart that portion of the plant.
The NRC and Westinghouse have stressed that there were no health- or safety-related consequences from the accumulation of uranium.
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