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Tuesday, 26 June 2007 |
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Page 3 of 3
Nuclear options
The Santee Cooper board recently committed $390 million to the consideration of additional nuclear capacity and the lengthy permitting process, which is already underway.
Planning is under way for two reactors to be built by Santee Cooper in collaboration with South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. on the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station site near Jenkinsville.
If the two utilities decide to move ahead with the project, construction on the first reactor would begin in 2010. The first would be expected to go on line in 2016, while the second would begin generating power in 2019. Once the second reactor goes on line, SCE&G would get 55% of its output and Santee Cooper would get 45%.
Duke Energy, the state’s largest nuclear power producer, is currently working on an application for licensing of a new Westinghouse AP 1000 reactor in Cherokee County, and expects to complete the paperwork late this year.
Duke Energy pulled the plug on its Cherokee Nuclear Station outside Gaffney in 1983, after spending about $600 million to design and build part of the facility along the Broad River.
In the wake of the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, the company sold the 2,000-acre site.
Duke Energy now has bought back the land and is considering rebuilding the facility potentially to house two reactors.
If it decides to submit the application, the review process will take two or three years, said Duke Energy spokeswoman Rita Sipe.
Green power
Since 2001, Santee Cooper has been aggressively looking at “green power” in an effort to provide alternative sources of power for its customers. The company currently produces about 15 megawatts of power at landfills in Lee, Richland and Horry counties, and last October it launched its first solar-based green power site at Coastal Carolina University, which provides power to student gathering areas and bus stops on the university’s grounds.
Santee Cooper also is exploring the possibility of harnessing wind power in conjunction with the S.C. Energy Office and the U.S. Department of Energy.
As part of that commitment, it was one of the key sponsors of the Southeast Regional Offshore Wind Power Symposium, held in February 2007 in Charleston.
During the two-day event, researchers from Clemson University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and North Carolina State University discussed the viability of wind power and strategies for its effective implementation in the Southeast.
Santee Cooper currently projects a minimal wind-power production of 50 megawatts, Varn said.
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