The Nation - News from Jan. 12, 1989

Geologists have discovered an “inactive” fault near the Savannah River Plant nuclear weapons complex in South Carolina, according to a report by the Energy Department. The Pen Branch Fault runs within half a mile of the K-Reactor and the site of a proposed reactor scheduled for construction beginning in 1991 or 1992, according to Steve Wright of the department. He said the other two reactors on the site, the P-Reactor and the L-Reactor, are several miles from the fault, a fracture or zone of fractures in rock strata where pressure and displacement can cause earthquakes.