Friday, September 21, 2007 11:35 A.M.

PPL will pay for extra water use | Wilkes-Barre News | timesleader.com - The Times Leader

PPL will pay for extra water use

By Tom Venesky tvenesky@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter

PPL Corp. agreed to pay a $500,000 settlement last week regarding a 2001 increase in water usage from the Susquehanna River.

The settlement was made with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, a federal interstate agency charged with approving or denying applications to withdraw ground or surface water from the basin.

According to Thomas Beauduy, the commission’s deputy director, the settlement was one of the largest made by PPL. The matter stems from a 2001 modification, or uprate, made to PPL’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Salem Township that resulted in an increase in water withdrawn from the river.

Beauduy said the increase was greater than 100,000 gallons per day, the minimum amount needed before PPL has to seek approval.

“In our belief, the increased water use related to that uprate triggered our regulations,” Beauduy said.

The issue didn’t surface until 2006, Beauduy said, when the commission received a PPL application for another uprate. Last week, the commission agreed to the $500,000 settlement and approved the recent uprate request, which allows the plant to withdraw up to 66 million gallons of water from the river daily with a consumptive use (water lost to evaporation) set at 48 million gallons daily. Previously, the plant was approved to use 40 million gallons daily.

PPL spokesman Lou Ramos said the corporation disagreed with the commission’s contention that approval was needed for the 2001 water usage increase.

Ramos said the amount of the increase was never validated.

“They (the commission) wanted us to install flow meters in our large pipes, which is quite expensive,” he said. “We could never agree on how we would go about measuring the flow.”

While the disagreement persisted over the years, PPL sought to increase output at the plant by 7 percent in 2006, Ramos said. In order to have the increased output, the plant would need to withdraw more water from the river and would need SRBC approval, he said.

“In order for us to move on with the current filing, the commission has to clear any pending issues,” Ramos said. “We agreed to the settlement, and in return, they closed the 2001 issue and we could move forward and request for additional water usage for our current power upgrade.”

Beauduy said the $500,000 will go into the commission’s water management fund, which is used to develop water storage projects to mitigate the impact of consumptive uses from the Susquehanna River.

Tom Venesky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7230.