• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

In the Hunt Again Savannah River Site Could Be Location for New Nuclear Power Plant

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 December 2005, 03:02 CST

Savannah River Site is back in the running for a new nuclear power plant. This is an encouraging development, but don't get your hopes up too much just yet.

SRS isn't alone in the hunt; also in the competition is the V.C. Summer nuclear plant in Jenkinsville, S.C., near Columbia. The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier reports that Scana Corp. and Santee Cooper have filed a letter of intent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to seek an operating permit for one of the two sites.

Several months ago SRS was under consideration by NuStart Energy Development LLC, a consortium of utility companies, as a locale for a new commercial nuclear power plant - along with five other locales. Ultimately SRS was passed over for one of the other sites.

Its chances would seem to be better this time out because it's up against only one other site. However, it's a strong one. The V.C. Summer facility is already owned by Scana, parent company of South Carolina Electric & Gas, has good security, and room for another cooling tower. This makes it "the site to beat" in the bidding for a new commercial reactor, says The Post and Courier.

This isn't to say SRS doesn't have its assets, too: Much of the preliminary work has already been done, the work force is nuclear- competent and the NRC has studied, visited and cleared the property in question for a commercial reactor. But realistically speaking, Summer probably has the edge.

Even so, give the Aiken-Edgefield Economic Development Partnership credit for keeping SRS front-and-center whenever consideration for a new commercial reactor comes up. "We said ... we would be working with companies both in state and out of state," said partnership director Fred Humes, "and we are doing just that."

Indeed, if the partnership's aggressive marketing of SRS doesn't pay off right away, it should eventually. All we can say is keep up the good work.

A new commercial reactor on SRS land would amount to a $1.5 billion investment and generate up to 700 jobs. It could also create additional opportunities in science and nuclear energy studies. It is well worth all the efforts area economic developers put into it. Don't quit.

Source: Augusta Chronicle, The

More News in this Category