SC nuke plant failed to correct problem with safety system, feds say
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says operators of the V.C. Summer atomic power plant failed to identify and correct problems that left an emergency power system vulnerable to premature damage.
A recent inspection report shows that issues involving a diesel generator system date to 2003. If the power plant had properly addressed those problems, it could have helped prevent an emergency generator pipe failure in late 2022, the Aug. 14 report says.
Emergency diesel generators help provide backup power to nuclear plants if the plants lose power. Maintaining power is critical to prevent meltdowns that could cause major releases of radiation. A loss of power can cause the circulation of cooling water to slow or stop, which can allow the nuclear reactor to overheat.
The NRC inspection report noted pipe cracks that needed to be addressed at the plant in Fairfield County northwest of Columbia. Dominion Energy, the plant’s operator, had no comment on the issue.
Dave Gasperson, a spokesman for the NRC in Atlanta, indicated that pipe cracks at the V.C. Summer plant are being looked at carefully because they are not common at other nuclear power plants.
“Other plants do not have a history of cracks as we have seen at VC Summer,’’ he said in an email.
Gasperson said recent issues at VC Summer did not increase public risk, but the agency is still investigating.
The NRC’s scrutiny of diesel generators in the most recent inspection follow problems the agency cited last year with one of the generators.
Last November, the NRC said it would step up scrutiny at the Summer plant after also determining that Dominion Energy did not properly identify and correct problems with a backup diesel generator.
The problem was serious enough for the NRC to issue a white safety finding, a designation not typically issued. White findings indicate moderate risks at a nuclear plant, as opposed to the less serious green findings.
Ed Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the recent problems should not be ignored.
“This looks like just another example of poor maintenance and a lack of attention to warning signs leading to inoperability of critical safety equipment,’’ he said in an email to The State.
The V.C. Summer Nuclear plant has been licensed to supply power since 1982. The single reactor is a key part of Dominion’s energy mix in South Carolina.
At one point, the site was to have been expanded to include two additional reactors, but that project fell apart in 2017 with billions of dollars in unforeseen costs facing the effort.
