More questions arise out of Westinghouse uranium leak
Columbia, S.C. (WOLO)– The community is still reeling from hearing the Westinghouse Fuel Factory on Bluff Road had a radioactive uranium leak. A week ago the Richland County representatives like Senator Darrell Jackson and Councilperson Dalhi Myers held a forum to get answers from both DHEC and Westinghouse. But the meeting created more questions. Now, neighbors want to know when is the radioactive uranium going to be cleaned up.
In the midst of Westinghouse applying for a new license so they can run for another 40 years, they’re dealing with this uranium leak and public backlash.
“The latest accident at the plant has just gotten to the point where the people in the community have said enough is enough,” Virginia Sanders said, a resident of Hopkins.
Westinghouse has yet to answer when the uranium leak was discovered, why they didn’t disclose the information to those in the community, and what their plans are to clean up the radioactive mess. There are also questions about how big the leak is, and why DHEC and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission didn’t step in sooner.
“The average person in lower Richland didn’t even know this process was going in,” Sanders said.
DHEC sent a statement saying they are currently reviewing Nuclear Regulatory Commission report from June 2018. DHEC says they learned about the uranium leak back in January because of the NRC. Some residents say they’re going to wait for more answers to come out before becoming too panicked.
“Seeing what DHEC has to say about it, you have to get the water tested and do what has to get done,” Eddie Barber said.
DHEC says there are currently 38 groundwater monitoring wells on the Westinghouse property that are routinely sampled to detect groundwater contamination. They also say there are no indications that uranium-contaminated soil from the 2011 pipe leak has contaminated groundwater. A spokesperson for the NRC said there is no indication that uranium has migrated at all to the drinking water either.
