NRC to hold public meeting on Oconee projects

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold a meeting on May 27 to discuss projects at the Oconee nuclear power plant near Seneca, South Carolina.

Projects at the plant will include measures that would prevent or at least mitigate the effects of tornadoes and flooding on the operation of the Oconee plant. Duke Energy, the operating company behind the plant is pursuing these enhancements in light of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster, which was the result of an earthquake and tsunami.

Among the enhancements are a new water cooling system and nearby Keowee Hydroelectric Unit upgrades. These units provide backup power in the case of an outage.

Open to the public, the meeting will begin at 8 a.m. ET and is planned to go until 3 p.m. It will be held at the Oconee Office Complex, 155 East Pickens Highway in Seneca.

Following the business portion of the meeting, NRC staff will be able to take questions from anyone in attendance.

 The Oconee power plant has a capacity of 2,538 megawatts of power. The plant began operation in 1973 and since that time has been able to produce more than 500 million megawatt-hours of electricity, according to the Duke Energy website.