Oct 16 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - John Marks Lake Wylie Pilot, S.C.

A week after Catawba Nuclear Station reported more than twice the allowed amount of radioactive material in one of its wells, officials remain confident the incident presents no threat to public safety.

"We still feel confident that it's contained to the site," Valerie Patterson, spokeswoman for CNS, said Monday.

On, the station reported a reading of 42,335 picocuries per liter of tritium in one of 30 wells installed as part of the Nuclear Energy Institute groundwater initiative. The threshold for reporting tritium concentration is 20,000. None of the remaining 29 wells, however, exceeded the threshold.

"It does not appear, at this point, to be a serious issue," said Ken Clark, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "This does not appear to be a considerable threat to public safety."

If the remaining wells had registered the same concentration as the well in question, or if any indication was given that tritium had spread beyond the one location, more alarm might be necessary, Clark said.

"Much higher levels would be of more concern to public health and safety," he said.

Groundwater or any public drinking water sources did not appear to be impacted, although the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control performed several tests of the area Friday. Those results should be back within three weeks.

"It's just preventative, because we're wanting to make sure that there isn't any indication that it's gotten off site," said Mary Nguyen Bright, spokeswoman for DHEC.

The main concern for Catawba Nuclear Station remains identifying the cause of the high reading and stopping it quickly.

"Basically, we're still performing our tests and procedures to identify the source," Patterson said. "We still don't know it yet."

Adam MacInnis contributed to this story.