FOREWORD

This draft detailed statement on environmental considerations associated with the proposed issuance of an operating license for Oconee Nuclear Station Unit 1 (AEC Docket 50-269) and continuing construction of Units 2 and 3 (AEC Docket No. 50-270, and 50-287) by the Duke Power Company (applicant) has been prepared by the Division of Radiological and Environmental Protection (the staff) of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in accordance with the Commission's regulation revised 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix D, implementing the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

This statement is based in part on information available in the Duke Power Company Environmental Report, dated 1970, and its Supplement, dated October 1971, submitted in conjunction with a request for an operating license for its Oconee Nuclear Station; the Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) on Oconee Units 1, 2, and 3; the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR) on Oconee Units 1, 2, and 3; Safety Evaluations, dated August, 1967 and December 1970; and a Detailed Statement on Environmental Considerations dated February, 1971. Copies of these documents are available in the AEC Public Document Room, 1717 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006, or in the Office of the County Supervisor at the Oconee County Court House, Walhalla, South Carolina.

Independent calculations were made and used as the basis for the Commission's assessment of environmental impact. In addition, some of the information was gained from a visit to the Oconee Nuclear Station site and surrounding areas on August 31 and September 1, 1971, by several Regulatory Staff members.

The applicant must comply with all requirements of Section 21(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act under the terms stipulated in AECissued permits and licenses. The operating license will contain the conditions that:

"the licensee shall observe such standards and requirements for the protection of the environment as are validly imposed pursuant to authority established under Federal and State law and as are determined by the Commission to be applicable to the facility covered by this operating license."

I. INTRODUCTION

The demand for power in the Duke Power Company's System (Fig. I-1) is growing at a rate of 8.7% per year according to the applicant's recent (October 1971) supplementary environmental report (3) and at a rate of 9.5% per year according to the Federal Power Commission's August 1970 projections. (1) The capacity provided by the Oconee Nuclear Station is needed to meet this demand and to provide a reserve capacity of 15 to 20%, a range generally recognized as desirable.

The applicant selected the site to be near the expanding industrial load in the western sector of its utility district and also to permit integration of the plant into the Keowee-Toxaway Project in an arrangement that provides ample cool condensing water as well as hydroelectric power for peaking purposes. This project presently consists of Lake Keowee and its completed hydroelectric station, the Oconee Nuclear Station with three pressurized water reactors under construction, and Lake Jocassee with its pumped-storage facility also under construction. Lake Keowee was formed by impounding the water of the Little River and the Keowee River just above Hartwell Reservoir near Seneca, South Carolina, as shown in Fig. I-2. Lake Jocassee is just upstream from Lake Keowee on the Keowee River. The hydroelectric project was licensed (Project No. 2503) by the Federal Power Commission, September 26, 1966.

For the purposes of this statement, "The Project" includes Oconee Nuclear Station, Lake Keowee, and Lake Jocassee. "The Project Site" includes the area around Oconee Nuclear Station including Lake Keowee, Lake Jocassee, and the headwaters of Hartwell Reservoir. "The Nuclear Site Boundary" is the circle with a one-mile radius around the Oconee Nuclear Station.

A. THE NEED FOR POWER

The demand for power in the area served by the Duke Power Company is growing at about the same rate as in other parts of the United States where industrial activity is expanding. The 1970-71 winter peak load on this system was about 6,400 megawatts. The 1973 summer and the 1973-74 winter peak loads were estimated by the Federal Power Commission to reach about 8,400 megawatts, representing an average growth rate of about 9.5% per year.(1) This growth reflects both increasing population and increasing per capita consumption of electricity. Although the desirability and the means of limiting both types of growth are being debated today, there is no reason to expect the power demands during the next several years to deviate significantly from the Federal Power Commission predictions.

The power generating facilities of the applicant are listed in Table I-1 and the geographic boundaries of the service area are shown in Figure I-1. Almost one-third of the new generating capacity will be provided by Units 1, 2, and 3, scheduled for commercial operation in late 1971, 1972, and 1973,

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