SC nuclear plant skipped key safety maintenance for years. Here’s what to know
Federal regulators say the V.C. Summer nuclear plant north of Columbia failed for years to maintain a critical piece of emergency safety equipment. The lapses are the latest in a pattern of safety findings against owner Dominion Energy.
FULL STORY: SC nuclear plant didn’t maintain key safety equipment for years, feds say
Here are the key takeaways:
- The equipment: A turbine-driven emergency feedwater pump that supplies cooling water during an accident. Cool water keeps reactors from overheating and releasing radiation.
- The lapses: Records show maintenance was skipped for 20 years on one part of the pump and nine years on another. Problems surfaced in August 2025 and again in November 2025.
- A pattern of issues: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission flagged similar maintenance problems with V.C. Summer’s backup diesel generators in 2022 and 2023, including cracks and leaks ignored for two decades.
- Rare safety findings: The NRC has issued four “white” findings against the plant since 2022. Only three white findings were issued nationally last year.
- Expert concern: “There seems to be a common thread — they’re not finding and fixing problems quickly enough,” said nuclear safety expert Dave Lochbaum.
- Dominion’s response: The company said there was “no danger to the public” and that it has revised procedures and added preventive maintenance practices. The NRC says one 2025 finding could still be downgraded.
- Bigger picture: V.C. Summer, operational since the early 1980s, sits on Lake Monticello about 25 miles north-northwest of Columbia. South Carolina leaders are pushing to restart a stalled expansion project abandoned in 2017 after $9 billion was spent.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.
Sammy Fretwell
The State