Federal nuclear safety inspectors are investigating a radioactive waste leak at a Fairfield County, South Carolina nuclear power plant amid increased scrutiny of pipes at the nation’s nuclear facilities.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said about 100 gallons of liquid waste spilled at the V.C. Summer plant about 25 miles from Columbia.
South Carolina Electric & Gas operates the plant. Company officials said the spill was discovered during a routine inspection last Thursday and reported to federal regulators the next day.
The company, which said repairs are already under way, described the leak as “slightly contaminated” water in a low-level waste processing system and said no one was ever in danger from the leak.
A report from the NRC said the spill happened in a line where processed radioactive waste is being prepared for release. State health officials said initial reports show the leaked material pooled on a concrete pad and are waiting on the results of soil samples, but an agency spokesman also said the leak did not appear to be a danger.
“At this point, there is no danger to the public and nothing significant to the environment that we found,” Department of Health and Environmental Control spokeswoman Mary Nguyen Bright said.
Nuclear plant pipes are under scrutiny in the wake of an Associated Press report that radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites.
Tritium is naturally occurring but also can be released from nuclear power plant production. It is not considered as toxic as other nuclear materials like plutonium or uranium but can present hazards if ingested over time. Because tritium moves rapidly in water, it sometimes can be a precursor of slow-moving and more dangerous atomic contamination.
Officials say tritium levels above the Environmental Protection Agency’s safe drinking water standard have been found in groundwater at nuclear plants in Oconee and York counties, but it’s not known if tritium was released from V.C. Summer.
Topics Pollution South Carolina
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