More problems uncovered at nuclear fuel plant near Columbia

COLUMBIA, SC An atomic safety investigation at a Columbia nuclear fuel factory uncovered additional problems this week as inspectors discovered more radioactive material had built up in the plant than they previously knew about.

An air pollution control system pipe potentially contained enough uranium to cause a nuclear accident at the Westinghouse plant on Bluff Road, records show. The amount of uranium found in the pipe might have exceeded a federal safety limit, according to a federal event notification report.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission became aware of the problem Tuesday, about five weeks after Westinghouse notified the agency that uranium had built up in another part of the air pollution scrubber system, records show. In that case, the amount of uranium found in the scrubber was three times higher than federal safety limits, the notification report says.

This week’s discovery, like the uranium buildup that surfaced in July, did not pose any danger to the surrounding community and no workers at the factory were harmed, according to the NRC. But buildups of nuclear material are a concern.

A buildup of atomic material can cause accidents that could endanger plant employees working nearby. Too much uranium in one place can increase chances of a “critical event,’’ which federal officials say is one of the most serious problems at a nuclear fuel plant.

A critical event is a burst of radiation that could expose people in the immediate area to unsafe levels of radioactive material. High levels of radiation can be deadly. Radiation exposure has been linked to cancer and other ailments over time.

While material used at the plant is low enriched uranium and is not as radioactive as highly enriched uranium, it still poses a hazard if not properly monitored, NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said.

Hannah and Joey Ledford, also a spokesman for the NRC in Atlanta, could not say why the uranium buildups had occurred at Westinghouse. A commission review is still underway, and a report won’t be ready until this fall, they said.

“We don’t want to pass judgment until the written inspection report’’ is completed, Ledford said this week.

Westinghouse officials say they are working diligently to understand why the uranium had built up and make improvements to prevent future problems. The company already has announced a series of actions that include more training, personnel changes and hiring a consultant to help.

Spokeswoman Courtney Boone said Friday her company found the most recent problems as part of a review of the factory, which was the intent. Correspondence from the company to the NRC has said ensuring safety is a top priority.

Boone emphasized that no accident occurred. Although the amount of material possibly exceeded limits, Boone said other factors are necessary to cause a critical nuclear reaction. Those include the configuration of the material. The company contends that an accident could not have occurred, but Boone said Westinghouse is continuing to investigate.

Until problems that caused the buildup are resolved, Westinghouse has shut down a chemical processing area that includes the scrubber. It also has temporarily laid off about one-tenth of the 1,000-person workforce at the 47-year-old plant. The company has said it still expects to meet production schedules.

This week, the company announced a series of “executive leadership transitions.’’ Those include naming Michelle DeWitt as interim senior vice president. Her duties include oversight of the Columbia plant.

Westinghouse also said Mike Annacone will become the Columbia site vice president after Westinghouse restarts part of the plant closed as a result of the uranium issue. The site now has an interim site vice president while Annacone heads “recovery efforts’’ on the scrubber issue, Westinghouse said in a news release Monday.

Boone declined to say if anyone had been fired.

Westinghouse’s nuclear fuel plant is a 550,000 square foot factory that makes nuclear fuel rods for commercial power plants. It is one of a handful of uranium fuel factories in the country, Hannah said. The plant is located on a lonely stretch of highway a few miles from Congaree National Park and along the Congaree River.

Columbia lawyer Bob Guild, a Sierra Club member with experience in nuclear issues, said the problems at Westinghouse are a concern. While the plant uses atomic materials, it is important to keep them secured, he said.

“It sounds like sloppy house-keeping and poor maintenance,’’ he said, noting that a buildup of uranium “is something that literally could cause a fire or a critical accident.’’

According to a federal nuclear event report, the NRC has found problems twice this month at the Westinghouse plant. The first was reported Aug. 7. In that case, the NRC learned that “residual material’’ had been found in an old scrubber, an air pollution control device out of service since 2002, the report said.

But in that case, the amount of uranium did not appear to exceed a limit for that part of the plant, records show.

Records show the problems that surfaced Tuesday are more of a concern. Uranium was found in the crook of a pipe that could “potentially exceed’’ a limit on the material of 80 pounds. Hannah said the pipe was part of the air scrubber system at Westinghouse.

In July, the NRC reported that 191 pounds of uranium had been found in the existing scrubber, which is about three times the legal limit for uranium in that section of the Westinghouse factory.

The uranium accumulation problems aren’t the first at the Bluff Road plant. In 2004, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission fined Westinghouse $24,000 after learning the atomic material had built up for eight years in a plant incinerator.

The fine, believed to be the largest against the plant at the time, prompted the company to make $3 million worth of improvements and replace its incinerator. Overall, Westinghouse has faced about a dozen major NRC enforcement actions since the late 1990s in South Carolina, NRC records show.

This story was originally published August 26, 2016 at 8:23 PM with the headline "More problems uncovered at nuclear fuel plant near Columbia."