Radioactive Waste 867 - New 40-year License Granted For Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility In Spite Of A History of Problems - Part 2 of 3 Parts

Radioactive Waste 867 - New 40-year License Granted For Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility In Spite Of A History of Problems - Part 2 of 3 Parts

Part 2 of 3 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
      The next step for the NRC is to issue a safety review before the final licensing decision is made. In a press release, the NRC said that the final environmental study found that the plant would only have small to moderate impacts on the environment if the new license is issued. The NRC said that the impacts in issuing a twenty-year license would be similar to the impacts for issuing a forty-year license. The last NRC license for Westinghouse was issued in 2007.
     The biggest environmental impacts from continuing to operate the CFFF would on ground and surface water according to the last environmental impact statement. Past operation of the plant has had a “noticeable effect” on groundwater quality. The quality of surface water has also been affected. The report said that uranium exceeded federal standards in the mud of Mill Creek. However, the reports said that groundwater contamination will not spread offsite.
     The NRC study said, “Although the proposed continued operation of the (fuel plant) for an additional 40 years could noticeably alter onsite groundwater quality, the continued operation would not destabilize or significantly affect the groundwater resource because there is low potential for contaminants to move offsite.’’
     The CFFF was established in 1969. It is one of the Columbia area’s major employers with almost a thousand workers. It is located on a quiet stretch of Bluff Road near Hopkins. Hopkins is a small community mostly composed of African American residents. The five hundred and fifty thousand square foot plant makes fuel rods for use in commercial nuclear fission power plants. Nuclear materials at the site consist of low-enriched uranium which is not as dangerous as some other types of radioactive materials, but it is still hazardous.
      Westinghouse’s process involves handling small pellets of uranium and inserting them into long rods for use in nuclear power plants. Uranium hexafluoride is converted into uranium dioxide at the CFFF. The company is recognized as an economic engine in Richland County and has been praised by the South Carolina Governor and local business leaders.
     The CFFF is also vital to the ability of the U.S. to make nuclear power. The CFFF is one of only three plants of its kind in the U.S. The other two are in Washington state and North Carolina. About ten percent of the nuclear power generated in the U.S. comes from fuel made at the CFFF.
     In addition to its main business, the CFFF has a defense related mission which is to produce metal bars that are shipped to Tennessee and irradiated. The radioactive bars are then shipped from Tennessee to South Carolina’s Savannah River Site where tritium is extracted for use in the construction of nuclear warheads.
     McMaster University’s nuclear advisory committee supports the forty year license renewal. McMaster recently praised a plan by Westinghouse to invest one hundred and thirty-one billion dollars in the aging nuclear fuel factory. Rick Lee is the advisory panel chairman. He said recently that “We think the 40 years is most appropriate. Twenty years in that market space is not a very long time by refueling standards. Unless somebody has a really prevailing argument, it would be hard to imagine why it would be 20.’’
Please read Part 3 next