State regulators concerned about rising pollution in pond muck near atomic fuel plant – By Sammy Fretwell (The State) / Dec 27 2019
State regulators, citing rising pollution in two ponds near an atomic fuel factory, say the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving too quickly to approve a new 40-year operating license for the Westinghouse plant on Bluff Road.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is asking the NRC to suspend a final decision on the permit or extend a public comment period while the department reviews new pollution data, according to a Nov. 26 letter from the agency’s Ken Taylor to the federal agency.
However, a spokesman for the NRC said the comment period, which closed Nov. 27, would not be reopened and the review is scheduled to be completed by April .
“The answer is no,” spokesman Roger Hannah said of delaying the process.
A spokeswoman for Westinghouse said the company is “deferring comment to the NRC and DHEC.”
Taylor’s letter says uranium levels “not previously identified’’ are showing up in the mud of upper and lower Sunset lakes, which are between the Westinghouse plant and the Congaree River in eastern Richland County.
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