The state of South Carolina wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to prepare a full environmental impact statement before deciding whether to renew the license for Westinghouse’s Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF).
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) made the request in an April 27 letter regarding the federal regulator’s 2019 draft environmental assessment on license renewal. In that document, NRC staff determined there would be no significant environmental impact in authorizing the facility to continue operating.
The NRC said Monday it is still considering the letter from G. Kendall Taylor, director of the SCDHEC Site Assessment, Remediation, and Revitalization Division. “We have not made a decision on whether to pursue an EIS or how long that might take if the decision is made to complete a full EIS,” agency spokesman Roger Hannah said by email Monday.
The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., reported this week that requiring a full EIS could add a year or more to the decision on license renewal.
An environmental impact statement would have a broader scope than an environmental assessment, which Hannah described as a tight evaluation of the need for an action, alternatives, and the environmental effects. An environmental impact statement covers all that, along with providing deeper consideration of the alternatives, cumulative impacts, and current and anticipated development in the region.
The Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility has since 1969 been producing nuclear fuel for power plants. Westinghouse in 2014 applied for a 40-year renewal to the federal license for the 550,000-square-foot plant. The present operations license expires on Sept. 30, 2027.
Taylor said the request for a full EIS is based on additional data on potential environmental impacts and other concerns related to the Westinghouse operation.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control in February received data from 40 groundwater monitoring wells dug around the plant last summer under a 2019 consent agreement between Westinghouse and the state establishing new commitments on the company for identification and cleanup of contaminants around the property near Hopkins. The information – also derived from sediment, surface water, and soil samples – backs the finding that there is no off-site contamination from environmental releases from the plant, Kendall stated. There is, though, indication that volatile organic contaminants exist under and beyond the nearby Upper Sunset Lake.
“A better resolution of the extent of [contaminants of concern] within the flood plain hydrogeologic system is yet to be determined and will be requested of Westinghouse in follow-up work under the CA,” Taylor wrote. “However, this supports the Department’s request for NRC to direct Westinghouse to conduct an EIS as the Department does not consider the work done under the CA as taking the place of an EIS under” the National Environmental Policy Act.
Among other concerns, Taylor noted that the Westinghouse plant would be 98 years old when its renewed license expires in 2067. The draft environmental assessment fails to address issues related to longevity of the facility’s infrastructure, he wrote.
There is also “minimal” consideration in the existing document of potential earthquake dangers to the plant, according to Taylor. The “NRC’s EA notes that seismic events are contemplated but NRC does not state whether the operational system and its structural support systems in the building and in exterior areas (tanks, piping, wastewater units, etc.) meet any seismic standard.”
In a statement Wednesday, Westinghouse avoided discussing the state request for the EIS but affirmed its commitment to meeting the terms of the consent agreement.
“The CA is designed to de-risk the site from past environmental issues by fully exploring and cataloging actual/potential impacts of every known legacy issue on the site and ensuring that we develop appropriate remediation strategies to prevent any adverse impact to the environment,” the company said. “This effort also puts into place new processes, tools, sampling regimes and programs designed to prevent future environmental issues. We are making tremendous progress and remain on track with our plans.”
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission had previously determined, in a June 2018 environmental assessment, that the requested license renewal would cause no significant environmental impact. However, the agency rescinded that finding after a series of mishaps at the plant. Among those: an equipment leak in July 2018 that resulted in uranium entering the subsurface of the facility, and a December 2018 discovery that uranium levels in the groundwater below the plant were above drinking standards.
The agency, though, came to the same conclusion regarding impact in the new draft environmental assessment issued last October.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control has not yet taken a position on the license renewal, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
