Federal authorities have raised concerns regarding a significant safety breach found at a nuclear facility in South Carolina. This comes after the identification of recurring cracks in a backup emergency fuel pipeline.

Over the course of the last two decades, a number of minor cracks have been discovered on multiple occasions in the pipes responsible for supplying fuel to the emergency generators at the V.C. Summer plant, located near Columbia. These generators play a crucial role in providing cooling water for the reactor in case of a power failure. This information has been reported by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The organization provided Dominion Energy, the owner of the plant, with a preliminary warning that they referred to as a “yellow” warning last week.

According to nuclear power expert David Lochbaum, who reviewed records from federal regulators, this falls under the second most severe category, with only seven comparable warnings issued nationwide since 2009, as reported by The State newspaper.

In 2003, the initial evidence of a fracture was identified on a diesel fuel pipe, and subsequent cracks have also been observed in similar pipes.

According to records from the NRC, the size of a diesel fuel leak increased during a 24-hour system test conducted in November.

The agency has issued a preliminary yellow warning due to the recurrent issues.

The commission’s decision is not conclusive, and Dominion will have an opportunity to clarify the situation, as stated by Darryl Huger, a representative from the utility, in an email.

Dominion is already implementing a strategy to enhance the dependability of the backup system. Similar to other nuclear reactors, there are multiple backup systems available in the event of any component failure, as stated by Huger.

“With a commitment to continued safe operations, we are inspecting and maintaining our generator and related components. We will continue to keep the NRC updated on our future strategy to further enhance our diesel generators,”

spokesperson Darryl Huger

Dominion, a company based in Virginia, is not the sole owner of the plant. Initially, the plant was built and initiated by SCANA in 1984. SCANA had intentions to construct two additional reactors, but due to significant cost overruns amounting to billions of dollars, the project was abandoned in 2017, leading to its sale to Dominion.

Dominion has recently submitted a request for the renewal of the license for the nuclear power plant, with a proposed extension of 40 years.

Long-standing proponent of nuclear safety, Tom Clements, expressed to the publication that the issues with the pipes should result in increased scrutiny from regulatory bodies.

“This incident serves as a wake-up call to fully analyze all such systems prior to a license-renewal determination,” commented Clements via email.