Hopkins, SC (WLTX) - The Hopkins community wants answers after a recent chemical leak at Westinghouse's Columbia facility.
On Monday night, Richland County's Lower Richland representatives called a meeting, where representatives from Westinghouse, DHEC and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gathered to answer questions.
"This kind of issue that occurs on my site is not ok," says Michael Annacone, plant manager for Westinghouse's Columbia facility. "Because anything like this that happens on my site, could potentially impact all of you."
Annacone spoke in front of more than 100 concerned residents about the July 8th leak, where uranium seeped into the soil under the nuclear fuel facility.
"We have to thoroughly investigate it, correct it and make sure that something like this doesn't happen again in the future," says Annacone.
The leak was first reported to DHEC on July 10th, then reported to the NRC, who classified the event as a non-emergency. Their July 23rd report cited that the leak was not a danger to any nearby community.
"We know groundwater in the area that has had issues has flown from the site in this direction, it has not flowed back towards the Hopkins area," says Ken Taylor of DHEC, who explained to Hopkins residents that the groundwater was flowing away from nearby residents.
Annacone says that no groundwater was contaminated, but residents were still concerned.
"How are you going to test our water quality for uranium, our well water?" asks Frank Woods Jr.
"What system do you have to get information out to the community that might be negatively impacted by what happened at Westinghouse?" asks Virginia Sanders.
Westinghouse says they are continuing to investigate the leak. However, residents walked away from Monday's meeting with little confidence.
"At this stage of the game, I have no confidence in anything you are telling us tonight, until someone gets to the bottom of this," says Brenda Miller.