# Final Environmental Impact Statement for Combined Licenses for Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 and 3

Final Report

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of New Reactors Washington, DC 20555

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Regulatory Div ision Special Projects Branch Charleston District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleston, SC 29403

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# Final Environmental Impact Statement for Combined Licenses for Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 and 3

Final Report

Manuscript Completed: April 201 1 Date Published: April 2011

Division of Site and Environmental Review Office of New Reactors U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555

- 0001

Regulatory Division Special Projects Branch Charleston District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleston, SC 29403

- 5107 NUREG

- 1939, Vol. 1Site Layout and Plant Description

NUREG

- 1939 3

- 6 April 2011 this EIS. However, such internal processes are considered by the NRC staff in the Westinghouse AP1000 design certification documentation and in NRC safety reviews of the SCE&G COL application. This section (3.2.2) describes the structures with significant plant

environment interfaces. The remaining structures are discussed in Section 3.2.3, inasmuch as they may be relevant in the review team’s consideration of impacts discussed in Chapter 4 of this EIS. Figure 3

- 4 illustrates the VCSNS site layout with a grid overlay to reference the locations of various plant structures and ac tivity areas as they are described in the following sections. Existing Unit 1 is located primarily in the C2 quadrant. Proposed Units 2 and 3 structures are located primarily in the C3 and C4 quadrants.

3.2.2.1 Landscape and Stormwater Drainage
Landscaping and t he stormwater

- drainage system affect both the recharge to the subsurface and the rate and location at which precipitation drains into adjacent creeks and streams. Impervious areas eliminate recharge to aquifers beneath the site. Pervious areas managed to reduce runoff and maintained free of vegetation would experience considerably higher recharge rates than adjacent areas with local vegetation. The stormwater

- management system, including site grading, drainage ditches, and swales, provides a safety funct ion to keep locally intense precipitation from flooding safety

- related structures.

The stormwater

- retention basins in the immediate vicinity of the location of proposed Units 2 and 3 are shown in Figure 3

- 5

. The proposed site is on top of a hill and stormwater would drain away from the site in several directions and into several unnamed creeks to the west and into Mayo Creek to the east. Once drainage enters Mayo Creek it would flow south, then west around the s outhern base of the powerblock area.

3.2.2.2 Cooling System
The cooling system represents the largest interface between the plant and the environment. Makeup water would be provided to the plant through an intake structure on Monticello Reservoir. A portion of the makeup water would be returned to the environment via the discharge structure on Parr Reservoir. The remaining portion of the water would be released to the atmosphere via evaporative cooling through mechanical draft cooling towers.

These component s represent interfaces between the plant and the environment. This section describes the components of the proposed cooling system based on the information provided by SCE&G in its ER (SCE&G 2010a ) and FSAR (SCE&G 2010b ).Site Layout and Plant Description

April 2011 3

- 7 NUREG

- 1939 Figure 3

- 4

. VCSNS Site Layout Showing Major Structure and Ac tivity Areas for Proposed Units 2 and 3Site Layout and Plant Description

NUREG

- 1939 3

- 8 April 2011 Figure 3

- 5 . Site Layout CloseupSite Layout and Plant Description

April 2011 3

- 9 NUREG

- 1939 **Cooling**

**- Water Intake Structures** 

VCSNS Units 2 and 3 would obtain water for the cooling

- water systems from Monticello Reservoir. Two new intake structures are proposed: one for makeup water for the CWS cooling towers and one for makeup water for the service

- water system (SWS) cooling tower and for t he potable, fire

- protection, and demineralized water systems. The CWS intake would be the larger of the two and would be located on the shore of Monticello Reservoir approximately 1250 ft west of the Unit 1 intake ( Figure 3

- 4 , gr id reference C2). This intake would be constructed of concrete; it would be approximately 60 ft long and 75 ft wide. It would house six

raw

- water pumps (three per AP1000 unit), each in an individual pump bay with a dedicated trash rack for coarse

- debris removal and a traveling screen for fine

- debris removal. A plan view of the CWS intake system’s six pump bays is shown in Figure 3

- 6 . A cross

- sectional view of one pump bay is shown in Figure 3

- 7

.
The intake structure for the water

- treatment plant proposed for providing SWS makeup water, and other miscellaneous treated

- water systems (potable, fire protection, demineralized water systems) would be located in Monticello Res ervoir approximately 5500 ft east of the Unit 1 intake ( Figure 3

- 4 , grid reference E2). This proposed intake structure consists of a 255

- ft

- long, 17

- ft

wide access pier extending approximately 200 ft into the reservoir, a 14

- in.

- diameter intake pipe suspended from the pier, and a cylindrical concrete wet well approximately 10 ft in diameter (SCE&G 2009 d ). The wet well is a chamber set in the reservoir to collect the water to be pumped to the water

- treatment plant; the end of the intake pipe extends into the wet well. Screens in the side of the wet well allow water to pass through but exclude debris.

**Discharge Structure**
Water released from proposed Units 2 and 3 would flow through a pipeline to a discharge structure (outfall) on t he eastern shore of Parr Reservoir, approximately 5000 ft west

- southwest of Units 2 and 3. The pipeline would be routed along the rail corridor between VCSNS Units 2 and 3 and Parr Reservoir ( Figure 3

- 4 , grid references A4, B4, C 4). The proposed discharge structure consists of a valve box and weir chamber housed in a structure 20 ft wide, 60 ft long, and approximately 23 ft deep, situated mostly below grade on the shoreline ( Figure 3

- 8 ). Effluent would exit the weir chamber through a 36

- in.

- diameter discharge pipe to a diffuser line containing multiple ports that discharge approximately 3 ft above the bottom of Parr Reservoir. The proposed diffuser design has 20 ports, each with an insid e diameter of 7 in., spaced 3.67 ft apart (on center), and alternately opening upstream and downstream. The diffuser line would be approximately 70 ft long; the main pipe and bottom part of each diffuser port would be sunk into the bottom of the reservoir and stabilized with riprap ( Figure 3

- 9 ) (SCE&G 2010a ).Site Layoutand Plant DescriptionNUREG-19393-10April2011 Figure 3

- 6 . Plan View of the Circulating

- Water System Intake Structure (SCE&G 2009 e )Site Layout and Plant DescriptionApril20113-11NUREG-1939 Figure 3

- 7 . Cross

- Section View of the Circulating

- Water System Intake Structure (SCE&G 2009 e )Site Layoutand Plant DescriptionNUREG-19393-12April2011 Figure 3

- 8 . Plan and Cross

- Section Views of the Outfall Discharge System (SC E&G 2009 e )Site Layout and Plant DescriptionApril20113-13NUREG-1939 Figure 3

- 9 . Plan and Cross

- Section Views of the Outfall Discharge Ports (SCE&G 2009 e )Site Layout and Plant Description

NUREG

- 1939 3

- 14 April 2011 **Cooling Towers**

Proposed Units 2 and 3 would use closed

- cycle cooling towers to dissipate heat from both the CWS and the SWS. As described in Section 3.1, each unit requires two cooling towers for the CWS; these are mechanical draft towers with circular concrete shells, approximately 275 ft in diameter at the base and 70 ft high, including the fans on top. In each tower, fans blow air across water sprayed through fine nozzles, removing heat from the water and rejecting that heat to the atmosphere. The four towers would be aligned north

- south, located to the east, and extending slightly farther south of Units 2 and 3 ( Figure 3

- 5 ). Each new unit would also have one cooling tower for the SWS, rectangular in shape, located adjacent to the AP1000 turbine building. These would also be mechanical draft cooling towers, each d ivided into two cells.

3.2.2.3 Other Structures with a Permanent Environmental Interface

Roads, railroad lines, and buildings are the additional structures with a permanent environmental interface that would be built on the proposed site. Proposed new buildings associated with proposed Units 2 and 3 include the water

- treatment plant, sanitary waste

treatment plant, and power transmission system.

**Roads**
An existing road network on the VCSNS site would provide access to and between the existing facilities. To suppo rt proposed Units 2 and 3, existing roads would be improved, and approximately 6 mi of new road would be constructed. New roadways would include an approximately 1.5

- mi main access road from State Highway 213 (SC

- 213) near SCE&G’s New Nuclear Deployment O ffice to Units 2 and 3, a 0.33

- mi heavy

- haul road between the laydown and fabrication areas, a 1.5

- mi access road between the Units 2 and 3 cooling towers and the

raw

- water intake structure on Monticello Reservoir, and a perimeter road around the new units

. Parr Road and much of the existing access road between Parr Road and VCSNS Unit 1 would be upgraded for use as the main access for Units 2 and 3 building materials and worker traffic. In the vicinity of the new units, this access road would be rerouted to the east side of the rail line into the site (SCE&G 2010a ).

**Railroad Lines**
SCE&G owns a spur railroad line connecting the VCSNS site to the Norfolk Southern Railroad’s main line along the Broad River. The VCSNS railroad line, which terminates a t Unit 1, would be rerouted and another spur added between the new units and their cooling towers ( Figure 3

- 4

, grid reference C4). SCE&G indicated that another spur might be added to serve the concrete batch plant, which would be located south of the site of the proposed cooling towers along the new main access road ( Figure 3

- 5 ).