Westinghouse has reportedly shut down or partly shut down its nuclear fuel processing and assembly plant in South Carolina on a voluntary basis following an Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspection team's visit to review why an air scrubber had accumulated an excessive amount of uranium-bearing material.
The incident, which first came to light during a July 13 inspection, did not pose any risk to plant personnel or to the environment. However, the NRC sent an Augmented Inspection Team to the plant in early August. According to a WIS10 news report, the company has now voluntarily shut down part of the plant operations following that team's visit to the plant, although a public report on the problem is not due for several weeks. (Reports are made public 30 days after an inspection has been completed.)
There was no advanced information on the augmented inspection team findings. The report said that the plant had been “partially and voluntarily” shut down and that there was “no word on any layoffs.”
Work at the plant was halted following the July 13 check that discovered the accumulation of materials in an air scrubber. Work was suspended during an investigation into the matter, but work resumed “after confirming the safe restart of the area with NRC representatives,” said a company spokesperson in an email. However, the possibility of another work suspension was considered a possibility at that point, as the email pointed to the temporary resumption of plant operations until further sampling and inspecting was done. “Operations temporarily resumed until further testing and sampling was planned,” the email said.
At the time, NRC Region II Administrator Cathy Hane stressed that the incident “did not involve any employee contamination or a nuclear criticality, but shows the need for Westinghouse management to review s some aspects off their operation.”
The augmentation team was sent to evaluate the issues “and ensure that they are being properly addressed,” Haney said in a statement.