NRC Publishes Environmental Impact Statement for Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel Plant

In late July the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission completed their Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the troubled Westinghouse nuclear fuel plant. The agency recommended a new 40 year operating license, concluding that the economic benefits outweighed the impacts to the environment and the surrounding community. The EIS states that the impacts to surface and groundwater resources would be small because Westinghouse "would comply with the SCDHEC’s NPDES permit, the SCDHEC Consent Agreement, and the proposed license conditions." Unfortunately, we've seen time and again that Westinghouse doesn't follow the rules and has a history of trying to cover up their problems.

You can see the EIS and other updates about the facility here.

You can read more about the EIS and Westinghouse's many issues over the last several decades in these articles from The State Newspaper:

• Despite water pollution and nuclear spills, SC fuel plant to get 40-year operating license
• Dead fish near SC nuclear fuel site were an early warning. Then came the spills and accidents

UPDATE: On September 12th, despite a history of environmental issues and concerns raised by the community, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted Westinghouse a new 40-year operating license for their nuclear fuel plant in Richland County. You can read more in this article from The State Newspaper.