Uranium 3 times higher than plant's limit found at Toshiba nuke facility in U.S.

Toshiba Corp. admitted on Thursday that uranium three times higher than the facility's own limits was found inside the plant of its U.S. unit Westinghouse Electric Co. in Columbia, South Carolina.

According to Toshiba, the amount of material that included the radioactive substance posed no safety issues to the public or would have any negative impact on the surrounding environment.

The issue of the uranium first came to light at Toshiba's nuclear fuel facility following the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission detecting the material during a regular maintenance inspection in May last year.

Since August, the nuclear watchdog has been closely investigating the facility since the uranium was first discovered and said that it had been building up inside a piece of equipment used for filtering during the process of turning uranium into powder.

Toshiba has maintained that the utility itself has been conducting regular safety checks and cleaning operations and that its conduct has been acceptable.

Westinghouse Electric Co., however, if found to have breached the nuclear watchdog's safety standards, could have punitive measures taken against it. Endit