A - - i SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This Final Environmental Statement was prepared by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Directorate of Licensing. 1. This action is administrative. 2. The proposed action is the issuance of a construction permit to the South Carolina Electric and Gas Company (the Applicant), Columbia, South Carolina, for the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, Unit I (the Summer Station), a power reactor located in Fairfield County, S.C., 26 miles northwest of Columbia, S.C., and 1 mile east of the Broad River, near Parr, South Carolina (Docket No. 50-395). Unit I will employ a pressurized water reactor to produce up to 2775 megawatts thermal (MWt). A steam turbine-generator will use this heat to provide 900 MW (net) of electrical power capacity. A "stretch" power level of 2914 MWt is considered in the assessments contained in this statement. The exhaust steam will be cooled and condensed by once-through flow of water from Monticello Reservoir, a 6800-acre reservoir to be created by the Applicant for operating a proposed pumped storage hydroelectric station near the nuclear station. Although the Summer Station is to be constructed as a closely related part of the Applicant's pumped storage project, for the purpose of this statement only the environmental impacts of construction and operation at the nuclear generating station are evaluated. At this time, the Federal Power Commission is conducting an environmental review of the construction and operation of the Fairfield Pumped Storage Hydrostation (FPC No. 1894). These two environmental statements, together, will cover the overall environmental impact of the construction and operation of the conglomerate. 3. Summary of environmental impacts and adverse and beneficial effects: a. Electrical generating capacity will be added which will support economic growth of the area served by the Applicant. Jobs will be created during construction and operation of the Summer Station and economic assistance provided to the county and communities in taxes paid by the Applicant. ii b. About 200 acres of land (principally softwood forest) will be reassigned from present use to the construction site of the Summer Station. c. About 1850 acres of forest, farmland and urban property will be used as rights-of-way for the transmission lines. d. About 530,000 gallons per minute (gpm) will be recirculated from Monticello Reservoir for condensing turbine exhaust steam. This water, heated to about 25°F above lake temperature will produce a shallow thermal plume of about 230 acres having a temperature greater than 5°F above lake ambient tempera- ture. e. A small increase in fogging potential will exist during operation during the winter months along the shorelines of Monticello Reservoir. f. Small quantities of chemical wastes will be discharged to Monticello Reservoir. Concentrations will be such that no measurable detrimental effects are anticipated. g. As much as 33,000 tons of plankton in Monticello Reservoir could perish each year from passage through the turbine exhaust steam condenser, but the overall impact is small because the plankton regenerate quickly. h. A small quantity of radioactive materials will be discharged to the environment, resulting in no significant environmental impacts. The estimated dose to the population projected for the year 1980 is 15 man-rem/yr. i. The risk associated with accidental radiation exposure is very low. 4. The principal alternatives considered: a. Purchasing power from outside sources b. Locating the Summer Station at another site c. Using fossil fuels for .a power station at the same site d. Employing alternative cooling methods. iii 5. Comments on the Draft Environmental Statement were received from the agencies and organizations listed below and have been con- sidered in the preparation of the Final Environmental Statement. Copies of these comments are included as Appendix C and discussed in Section XII. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Department of Agriculture Department of Army, Corps of Engineers Department of Commerce Department of Health, Education and Welfare Department of Housing and Urban Development Department of the Interior Department of Transportation Environmental Protection Agency Governor of the State of South Carolina 6. This statement was made available to the public, to the Council on Environmental Quality and to other agencies in January 1972. 7. On the basis of the evaluation set forth in this Final Statement and after weighing the environmental, technical, economic and other benefits of Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Unit I against environmental costs and considering available alternatives, it is concluded that the action called for under NEPA and Appendix D to 10 CFR Part 50 is the issuance of a construction permit for the facility subject to the following conditions for protection of the environment: a) The Applicant will perform preoperational measurements of the physical, chemical and biological parameters of the environment to establish baseline conditions upon which possible adverse effects of the station can beevaluated. b) The Applicant will submit to the Staff a proposed plan for an operational environmental monitoring program. Staff approval of this plan will be obtained prior to the granting of an operating license. c) The Applicant shall select, design and construct the trans- mission lines in accordance with appropriate federal guidelines. d) The Applicant shall use appropriate federal and state guide- lines and regulations in.matters concerning sanitation in recreational areas to be constructed as part of this project. iv e) The objective of the station design shall be such that the release of radioiodines to the environment is controlled so that the Staff's projected annual exposure to the 2-gram thyroid organ of a child will not exceed 5 millirems. 8. As stated earlier, the construction and operation of the proposed Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Unit I is a closely related action to the construction and operation of the proposed Fairfield pumped storage hydro plant in that the nuclear facility will use the upper impoundment of the hydroelectric plant as a source of cooling water. The proposed impoundment, which will become known as Monticello Reservoir, has, therefore, a dual purpose. Since the Fairfield pumped storage hydroelectric plant will require licensing and environmental review by the Federal Power Commission, the Atomic Energy Commission in its environmental review has assumed the existence of the Monticello Reservoir. This Statement, therefore, evaluates the discharge of heat and of chemical and radioactive effluents to the Reservoir as a consequence of the operation of Summer Station, but does not consider the environmental factors asso- ciated with its initial construction or which are a direct conse- quence 6f its operation as an upper impoundment of a pumped storage hydroelectric plant. The Applicant has indicated that if for any reason he should at a later date elect not to complete the Fairfield project as presently described, he would still plan to construct the Summer Station at the proposed site, but would employ a different method of cooling in the absence of Monticello Reservoir. If this were to occur, the Atomic Energy Commission would require the Applicant to amend its Environmental Report to include the new method of cooling the Summer Station. The Staff would then conduct such evaluation as required at that point in time. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Pag~e SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .............. ................... LIST OF FIGURES .............. ................ ....... xi LIST OF TABLES ......... ................. xiv FOREWORD ..... ............... ................ .... xvii I. INTRODUCTION ............. .................... I-i A. SITE SELECTION .............. ................. !- B. APPLICATIONS AND APPROVALS ... ........... .. 1-2 II. THE SITE ..... ........................... II-i A. GENERAL .. .......... .................. II-i B. LOCATION GEOGRAPHY ............ ............... I- C. REGIONAL DEMOGRAPHY AND LAND USE .. ........ .. 11-6 D.. HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE .......... .............. ... 11-15 E. ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES ....... ............. .. 11-16 1. General Terrain Characteristics .... ....... 11-16 2. Geology ............ ................... .. 11-16 3. Surface Water .......... ................ 11-17 a. Streams .......... ................. .. 11-17 (1) Hydrologic Description .. ....... .. 11-17 (2) River Water Quality ... ......... .. 11-18 b. Monticello Reservoir ..... .......... 11-21 (1) Hydrologic Description .. ....... .. 11-21 (2) Water Quality ...... ............ .. 11-21 4. Ground Water ........... ................ 11-23 5. Meteorology .................... 11-24 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd) Page F. ECOLOGY OF SITE AND ENVIRONS ... .......... .. 11-26 1. Terrestrial Ecology ...... ............. .. 11-26 2. Aquatic Ecology ........ ............... .. 11-27 a. Plankton ........ ................ 11-27 b. Benthos .......... ................. 11-28 c. Fish ................................. .. 11-29 d. Endangered Species 11............I-31 III. THE STATION ................. ..................... III-, A. EXTERNAL APPEARANCE ............ ............... III-, B. TRANSMISSION LINES ........... ........ ........ 111-3 C. REACTOR AND STEAM-ELECTRIC SYSTEM ... ........ .. 111-8 D. EFFLUENT SYSTEMS ................. ............ III-,, 1. Heat ................. .................... III_,, a. General..................IIIll b. Condenser Cooling Water ...... ........