Vogtle Expansion Plan Worries Some Officials Say the Plant Would Use Too Much Savannah River Water.

By MARY LANDERS

SAVANNAH — To Savannah officials, the cooling towers at the Vogtle nuclear power plant just south of Augusta are beginning to look like enormous straws.

A proposed expansion of the plant would mean more water lost from the Savannah River for cooling.

Lots more.

“I look at it as an inter-basin transfer to outer space,” said Harry Jue, director of the Savannah Water and Sewer Bureau. “It’s not returned.”

Vogtle’s two reactors, which began operating in 1987 and 1989, draw about 69 million gallons of water a day from the river at the site in Waynesboro. About two-thirds of that evaporates. The rest is returned to the river.

Two new reactors are expected to increase the daily loss from the river to 70 million to 80 million gallons a day.

Jue said that’s enough water to supply Savannah for three to four days.

SALTWATER FLOW A CONCERN

Last month, he submitted formal comments on the draft environmental impact statement for Vogtle’s early site permit in which he called for a better understanding of water supply and demand as well as quality on the river.

“Of particular concern to Savannah’s water supply is the flow of saltwater moving upriver as river flows decrease,” he wrote. “This situation will also be exacerbated by the proposed deepening of the Savannah Harbor from 42 feet to 48 feet.

“This saltwater conduit, low flows from reservoirs, consumptive use upstream, extreme astronomical tides and northeast winds could virtually shut down Savannah’s raw water intakes located at Mile 29 on the Savannah River.”

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division indicated in its comments that it will need to review Southern Nuclear’s application to take more water as it applies to water planning, water losses and contingencies needed to manage future droughts.

“We’d like to withhold final judgment until we get water withdrawal and discharge permits,” said Marlin Gottschalk, the agency’s policy coordinator.

Gottschalk indicated the agency might have concerns over water quantity, but another official was less worried.

“When you look at the river it’s a big river. Even with the expansion, it’s looked at as inconsequential,” said Jeff Larson, the environmental division’s assistant branch chief for the Savannah and Ogeechee basins.

He spoke recently at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers meeting on drought management of the river.

INTERPRETING THE FIGURES

If approved, an early site permit is good for up to 20 years without revisiting issues such as water use, public health and safety, even if new information emerges, said Sara Barczak, Savannah- based safe energy director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

She calculated that an expanded Vogtle would use more water each day than the residents of Atlanta, Augusta and Savannah combined.

Southern Nuclear, which operates Vogtle, sees the statistics another way.

The plant produced about 10 percent of Georgia’s total electric generation last year, said Beth Thomas, Southern Nuclear spokeswoman. Current water withdrawal represents 1 percent of the average daily flow of the river, she said. The proposed expansion would put withdrawals at about 2 percent.

Those figures are based on average flows, Barczak said.

“At drought level 3, if all the reactors were operating, they say it would be 4.6 percent of the river,” she said, adding that “4.6 percent of the entire river for one facility is an issue.”

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