S.C. says no threat from uranium leak
COLUMBIA, S.C. — 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-wide hole in the concrete floor where acid is used at the Westinghouse plant south of Columbia, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The plant uses uranium to make the fuel rods for commercial nuclear reactors.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission learned of the leak July 12, according to records.
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 within 2 miles 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.
Uranium levels in the soil near the hole reached 4,000 parts per million, according to federal records, which is 1,300 times higher than normal.
The company covered the hole in the floor with a metal plate and isn’t using the chemical-processing equipment in the area until the hole is repaired, Westinghouse spokesman Sarah Cassella said in an email.
Westinghouse and the federal government need to explain how long uranium was leaking through the hole into the soil, said Tom Clements, an anti-nuclear activist.