Mary Landers’ Dec. 16 Savannah Morning News story, “Nuclear plant’s expansion plan fuels water debate,” featured a terrific quote by Harry Jue, director of the Savannah Water and Sewer Bureau. He described the plant’s use of Savannah River water as a “an inter-basin transfer to outer space.” Landers reports that an expanded Plant Vogtle would require even more water:
“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.”
The U.S. Regulatory Commission is currently seeking public comments on the Plant Vogtle plan and according to Sara Barczak of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the comment period has been extended to Dec. 28. Comments should be submitted either by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop T-6D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by e-mail at Vogtle_EIS@nrc.gov. Background on Plant Vogtle is available on this page of the SACE Web site.
Photo Credit: gsbrown99 via Flickr.
