# Is V.C. Summer in Regulatory Trouble After Its Second White Finding?

The NRC has finalized a second white safety finding at V.C. Summer in Jenkinsville, S.C., after inspectors confirmed that Dominion Energy South Carolina failed for eight years — from 2017 through November 2025 — to preplan or perform preventive maintenance on the turbine-driven emergency feedwater pump governor valve linkage of the 966-MWe [Westinghouse](https://smrintel.com/companies/westinghouse) three-loop pressurized water reactor. The final determination, issued June 29 by NRC Region II acting regional administrator Julio Lara, keeps V.C. Summer in the regulatory response column of the NRC's action matrix. This is the plant's second concurrent white finding — the previous one involved the same pump's overspeed trip device — and the plant will remain under supplemental NRC oversight until root cause analyses are verified and corrective actions are sustained.

The immediate consequence: the plant faces additional NRC inspections and cannot exit the regulatory response column until both white findings are formally closed. Dominion has 30 days from June 29 to appeal the final determination.

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## What a White Finding Actually Means Under the Reactor Oversight Process

Under the NRC's four-color reactor oversight process, a white finding signals low-to-moderate safety significance — the second-lowest tier, above green but below yellow and red. White findings are not existential for plant operations, but they are not routine either. They trigger enhanced NRC attention, mandatory supplemental inspections, and placement in the regulatory response column of the action matrix.

The critical nuance here: V.C. Summer was already in the regulatory response column from a prior white finding for the third quarter of 2025, which involved failure to establish preventive maintenance on the TDEFW pump's overspeed trip device. That inspection was completed and the plant exited the extra inspection regime in early June. Before inspectors could close the books entirely, this second, related finding was finalized. Two concurrent white findings on the same safety system — the turbine-driven emergency feedwater system — is a pattern that warrants scrutiny beyond the individual violations.

For context on how serious things can get: in fall 2023, V.C. Summer received a preliminary yellow finding of substantial safety significance over an inoperable emergency diesel generator, before the NRC downgraded it to white following a regulatory conference.

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## Eight Years Without Preventive Maintenance: How the Finding Unfolded

The facts, as documented in the NRC's final determination, are straightforward and damaging to Dominion's argument that a green finding was appropriate.

The governor valve's last maintenance was conducted in 2017. From that point, according to the determination, Dominion Energy South Carolina did not schedule maintenance activities using written procedures, documented instructions, or drawings that could have detected degradation. No one checked for excessive play. No one inspected worn subcomponents.

The consequence materialized on November 12, 2025, when degradation of the governor valve linkage caused sufficient binding to trigger an overspeed trip of the TDEFW pump during a surveillance test. That event initiated the NRC inspection, which ran from November 2025 through March 2026.

Dominion's response on May 7 argued the violation merited only a green, very-low-safety-significance finding. The licensee contended that the pump would have successfully performed its safety function and injected into the steam generators because steam generator injection conditions are inherently less challenging to turbine initial speed control than surveillance test conditions. The NRC's inspectors rejected that argument and stood by the preliminary white finding issued March 31. The June 29 final determination made it official.

Dominion's own letter acknowledged the seriousness: "DESC takes this matter seriously and has thoroughly evaluated the condition and are implementing corrective actions to prevent recurrence." The disagreement was over degree of significance, not the underlying facts.

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## What This Means for Fleet-Wide Maintenance Culture

V.C. Summer's situation is a case study in deferred preventive maintenance cascading into regulatory consequence. A [Westinghouse](https://smrintel.com/companies/westinghouse) PWR that has operated since 1982 is not an unusual asset — dozens of similar vintage units run across the U.S. fleet — but the finding highlights a specific vulnerability: safety-significant mechanical linkages on turbine-driven equipment can degrade silently over years if preventive maintenance programs lapse, particularly on components that are not continuously monitored.

For the broader nuclear industry, the lesson is practical. Turbine-driven emergency feedwater systems provide decay heat removal capability independent of AC power — they are a critical passive backup. Governor valve linkages are mechanical, subject to wear, and dependent on scheduled inspection and maintenance to remain reliable. An eight-year gap in documented maintenance on such a component, in a post-Fukushima regulatory environment that places premium value on passive safety system reliability, is precisely the type of finding the NRC's oversight process is designed to surface.

The NRC's action matrix is working as intended here. The question for Dominion is whether its corrective action program can demonstrate systemic fixes — not just repairs to the specific hardware — convincingly enough to close both white findings and return the plant to the green column.

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## Plant Background

V.C. Summer is a single-unit, 966-MWe three-loop [Westinghouse](https://smrintel.com/companies/westinghouse) pressurized water reactor that entered commercial operation in 1982. It is owned and operated by Dominion Energy South Carolina. The plant is unrelated to the abandoned V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3 AP1000 new-build project, which collapsed in 2017.

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## Key Takeaways

- The NRC finalized a white safety finding at V.C. Summer on June 29, 2026, after Dominion Energy South Carolina failed to perform preventive maintenance on the TDEFW governor valve linkage from 2017 through November 2025.
- The governor valve degradation went undetected until it caused an overspeed trip of the TDEFW pump during a surveillance test on November 12, 2025.
- V.C. Summer now holds two concurrent white findings involving the same turbine-driven emergency feedwater system and will remain under the NRC's regulatory response oversight column.
- Dominion argued for a green, very-low-safety-significance finding; NRC inspectors rejected that argument and finalized the white rating.
- Dominion has 30 days from June 29 to appeal. Supplemental NRC inspections will continue until both white findings are closed.
- A prior yellow finding from fall 2023 — over an inoperable emergency diesel generator — was ultimately downgraded to white after a regulatory conference.

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## Frequently Asked Questions

**What is an NRC white safety finding?**
A white finding in the NRC's reactor oversight process indicates low-to-moderate safety significance. It is the second-lowest of four tiers — green, white, yellow, and red — and typically results in additional NRC inspections and placement in the regulatory response column of the action matrix.

**Why did V.C. Summer receive a white finding in 2026?**
The NRC finalized the finding because Dominion Energy South Carolina failed for approximately eight years, from 2017 through 2025, to preplan or conduct preventive maintenance on the turbine-driven emergency feedwater pump governor valve linkage using written procedures or documented instructions. The unchecked degradation caused an overspeed trip during a surveillance test on November 12, 2025.

**What is a turbine-driven emergency feedwater pump and why does it matter?**
A turbine-driven emergency feedwater pump (TDEFW) provides feedwater to steam generators to remove decay heat from the reactor core in emergency conditions. Unlike motor-driven pumps, it operates without AC power, making it a critical passive safety system. Reliable operation of the governor valve and its linkage is essential to controlling pump speed and ensuring proper flow.

**How many white findings does V.C. Summer currently hold?**
Two concurrent white findings, both involving the turbine-driven emergency feedwater system. The first — involving the pump's overspeed trip device — was issued for the third quarter of 2025. The second, finalized June 29, 2026, involves the governor valve linkage maintenance failure.

**What happens next for V.C. Summer under NRC oversight?**
The plant remains in the regulatory response column of the NRC action matrix. It will stay there until supplemental inspections verify the root cause of the maintenance failures, confirm corrective actions are sufficient to prevent recurrence, and formally close both white findings. Dominion has 30 days from the June 29 final determination to appeal.