Uranium leaked at US nuclear fuel plant

columbia — Radioactive uranium leaked through the floor of a nuclear fuel plant in South Carolina but state health officials say they don’t think the material has threatened water supplies.

The material leaked through a 3-inch hole in the concrete floor where acid is used at the Westinghouse plant south of Columbia, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The NRC learned of the eak July 12 and said the hole is 2 metres deep, according to records obtained by The State newspaper. There is no reason to think the uranium has moved away from the plant or threatens water supplies because there are no private homes downstream of the plant and no public water supply wells withi 3km of the hole, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

But the agency is awaiting groundwater tests on the Westinghouse property, spokesman Tommy Crosby said. “Based on existing information, there is no threat to the public from this recent release or from historical groundwater contamination at this secured site as there is no exposure risk to the general public,” Crosby said in an email to the newspaper this week. —

It’s a pretty big concern if you have an unknown quantity of material containing uranium leaching into the groundwater

Tom Clements, an anti-nuclear activist