S. Carolina nuclear fuel plant can keep running for 40 years

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Federal officials have granted a factory in South Carolina a license to keep making fuel for nuclear plants for 40 years. The Westinghouse facility in Columbia is just one of three in the country making atomic fuel rods. Environmental groups had fought the new license. They said if the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was going to renew the license, it should only be for 20 years because of environmental and safety problems. Those issues included nuclear material leaking through the plant floor and groundwater pollution.. But federal officials say a recent environmental study found only small to moderate environmental impacts could be expected from the plant through 2062.