South Carolina Nuclear Plant’s Cracked Pipes Get Downgraded Warning From Nuclear Officials

The working nuclear reactor is seen at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, S.C., on April 9, 2012. Jeffrey Collins/AP Photo

JENKINSVILLE, S.C.—Federal regulators have lessened the severity of their warning about cracks discovered in a backup emergency fuel line at a South Carolina nuclear plant northwest of the state capital.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission downgraded its preliminary “yellow” warning for V.C. Summer Nuclear Station issued this October to a final “white” one after owner and operator Dominion Energy showed its generator could still run for six hours in an emergency, the agency announced Thursday.