Published August 17, 1999
The Herald - Rock Hill, SCUtility Companies Could Take Over
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The state's largest utilities would consider joining to form a nonprofit consortium to run the Barnwell County low-level nuclear waste site, a member of the governor's Nuclear Waste Task Force says.
Barnwell Nuclear Waste Site"A user-operated consortium is a good way to meet our needs," said Belton Ziegler of Scana, a member of the task force that met for the third time Monday.
Appointed by Gov. Jim Hodges in June, the task force is studying ways the state can end its role as a dumping ground for the nation's low-level nuclear waste. The group will present its recommendations to the governor and the General Assembly on Nov. 1.
Scana would join [Carolina Power & Light] and [Duke Energy], who between them operate most of the commercial nuclear energy generators in the state, to take over Barnwell from current operator Chem-Nuclear.
If the consortium takes over, one option would be to close Barnwell until they decommission their South Carolina reactors starting in 2031, Ziegler said. That would be beneficial because it would ensure Barnwell will have space when they decommission. There is no guarantee of that now.
"If that comes to fruition, it will be a judgment made by private companies as to what the best way to operate it is, but since most of those private companies serve in part or in whole, South Carolinians, we would hope and trust that their decisions would be in the interest of South Carolina," said task force member Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter.
Another option is rejoining a nuclear waste compact. South Carolina was a member of the Southeast Compact until 1995 when former Gov. David Beasley withdrew because North Carolina did not fulfill its obligation to build a replacement site for Barnwell by 1992.
Representatives from the Southeast Compact, the Central Compact (Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas)* and the Northeast Compact (Connecticut, New Jersey) attended Monday's meeting.
"Certainly, I don't think there's anything that would prohibit us from joining another compact, and part of what we've been doing is negotiating or at least discussing that with other compacts around the country," said Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia, a member of the task force's compact negotiating team.
Although by joining a compact the state might find itself in a situation similar to when it was in the Southeast Compact where it was the only state accepting waste, that is still a better than the current situation where Barnwell accepts waste from most of the country, Lourie said.
Completely shutting Barnwell off from the rest of the nation may violate the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause concerning interstate trade, said Jim Stuckey, the governor's chief legal counsel.
A utility consortium would take the state out of the process and prevent legal challenges based on interstate commerce laws, Leventis said. "The state at that point in time wouldn't be in a decision-making mode," he said. That would prevent a conflict of interest and interstate commerce concerns.
Leventis said he thinks there is a way for the state to get out of its lease with Chem-Nuclear and turn the facility over to the utility consortium.
* It is interesting that the membership of the Central Compact does not include Nebraska. Perhaps the Commission has decided to unanimously accept Nebraska's withdrawal -- otherwise, Nebraska remains a member [with rights and obligations] for five more years!
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