Dive Brief:
- Duke Energy's Oconee nuclear facility near Seneca, South Carolina, will face closer scrutiny after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) cited the company for a violation.
- Duke failed to identify and fix a cracked weld on a key safety system, according to the NRC.
- The violation was identified during a June inspection and was determined to be a low-to-moderate safety risk.
Dive Insight:
Despite the relatively low safety risk of the crack, it moves Duke's Oconee facility into a new category of NRC oversight. The agency will now conduct a supplemental inspection at Oconee, aimed at addressing the root cause — in this case, insufficient inspection procedures.
The crack was located in a high pressure injection system that provides water to help cool the reactor core during an accident, should pressure in the system remain high. While NRC determined the crack was a low or moderate safety risk, regulators said Duke's methodology in checking for cracks was not sufficient.
In 2012, NRC began to examine the safety implications of dam failure on nuclear plants, and determined that potential flooding at South Carolina's Jocassee Dam put the Oconee facility at risk of a blackout.
