Nuclear Plant Hearings: Water Issue Emerges

January 30, 2009

The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Having enough water to cool two more reactors at the Jenkinsville
nuclear plant emerged as a top environmental concern of area
residents.People who raised the issue during meetings Tuesday and Wednesday
nights held by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted that Fairfield
County currently is in a severe drought.

They also pointed out the water situation could be exacerbated if
Duke Energy builds a nuclear plant upstream on the Broad River in
Cherokee County.

SCE&G, an investor-owned utility, and its state-operated partner,
Santee Cooper, are seeking a license from federal regulators to build
and operate two reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station.

The state Public Service Commission is expected to rule in late
February on SCE&G's request to build the plant and raise electric
rates to cover borrowing costs.

If the state approves, the utility will press on with getting a
license from the federal government, a lengthier process that would
take an additional two years.

The Fairfield County meetings offered residents an opportunity to
voice ideas on what regulators should be looking for in the
environmental impact statement on the $9.8 billion project. About 60
people commented for the record during the sessions at Fairfield
Central High School in Winnsboro and McCrorey-Liston Elementary School
in Blair.

A drought would not be a problem, according to the utility.

The 7,000-acre Monticello Reservoir holds enough water to cool
the reactors for two months, said Steve Byrne, the utility's senior
vice president of nuclear operations.

Hydrology studies show the reactors would draw 1 percent of the
normal flow of the river for their cooling towers; 2.9 percent of the
lowest annual mean flow; and 7 percent of the flow on the lowest day
every 10 years, according to SCE&G documents.

If Duke builds two reactors upriver they shouldn't affect the
Jenkinsville operation, Byrne said. He noted most of the tributaries
draining into the Broad are below the Duke site.

One speaker, Joseph Wojcicki of West Columbia, suggested the
coast would be a better site because it could draw water from the
ocean, a seemingly inexhaustible source.

Utility officials say a coastal location would drive up the
project's costs. Jenkinsville is a better site because the reactors'
foundation would be atop solid rock close to the surface. They added that the site is
better located to serve customers, and SCE&G already owns the
property.

Overall, the meetings failed to unearth many new issues.

Opponents of nuclear power also raised questions about safety and
health issues, while advocates said the local plant had an excellent
safety record and its operators were good stewards of the environment.

Government officials noted the $19.9 million SCE&G pays in
Fairfield County property taxes supports the local school system and
provides funds for numerous county services.

While advocates of the project pointed to the potential economic
development, including new jobs that the project would bring, others
wondered if the community could handle the influx of workers -- namely
traffic.

SCE&G estimates 3,000 people will be hired for the project and
most will travel the area's two, two-lane, blacktop highways to get to
work.

Area residents complained that during the morning rush hour they
have to wait up to 10 minutes for traffic to clear so they can safely
pull out of their driveways.

The plan calls for adding turn lanes at work site entrances and
scheduling workers on different shifts to ease traffic congestion,
said SCE&G spokesman Robert Yanity.

There will be a gradual "ramping up" of the work force to a peak
of 3,000 people, Yanity said.

Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.