By RUSTY DENNEN
The state is reviewing whether aspects of Dominion power's plan for up to two additional nuclear reactors on Lake Anna are consistent with coastal-zone protection laws.
Though North Anna Power Station is far from the coast, construction at the plant could indirectly affect it. Virginia regulators have to sign off on large construction projects that require state and federal permits.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is seeking public comment on the federal consistency certification request until Oct. 25.
In a March letter to Ellie Irons, program manager of the DEQ's Office of Environmental Impact Review, Dominion contends that impacts to Virginia coastal resources would be small and would be mitigated through state-mandated erosion and sediment control measures.
Louisa County, where North Anna Power Station is located, is technically not part of Virginia's coastal zone. But certification is required because Spotsylvania County, which borders Lake Anna across from the nuclear plant, is in the zone.
Dominion is one of several utilities across the country testing a new permitting process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that could lead to the construction of the first new commercial nuclear reactors in more than 30 years.
The company has applied for an early site permit, which is the first step. That approval would allow Dominion to resolve environmental, safety and site issues prior to applying for permission to actually build and operate one or more new reactors.
Dominion's site work--land clearing and grading and the like--is addressed in the certification request.
The company, which wants the option of building additional reactors, estimates that site preparation would take between 12 and 18 months.
Those activities would include:
Clearing, grading and construction of temporary access roads and soil-storage areas.
Temporary support buildings such as warehouses and shop buildings, concrete mixing plants, docking and unloading facilities and construction support buildings.
Excavation for the reactor structures, and construction of roads, rail spurs, switchyards, fencing, lighting and sewage-treatment plants.
Construction of cooling towers, water intake and discharge lines, water circulation lines, fire protection equipment, microwave towers and underground utilities.
Before Dominion would do any of those things, it would document existing site conditions in the event that the site-preparation work is terminated or the permit expires, and to obtain any necessary state and local permits.
In its certification proposal, Dominion says water impacts are the main concern and that during the initial site work it will "control erosion and minimize the sediment load to Lake Anna" and file an erosion and sediment control plan.
About 1,500 feet of two small, intermittent streams on the property would be filled in.
The DEQ circulates the coastal-zone certification to other state agencies as part of the project's environmental impact review.
The NRC is expected to make its decision on Dominion's early site permit by October 2006.
The state project documents and Dominion's draft environmental impact statement can be viewed on the department's Web site at deq .virginia.gov/eir/federal.html.
Comments to the agency can be mailed, e-mailed or faxed, and must include a name, address and telephone number.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN: