Georgia Water Science Center

USGS Open-File Report 2007-1363

Simulation and Particle-Tracking Analysis of Selected Ground-Water Pumping Scenarios at Vogtle Electric Generation Plant, Burke County, Georgia

This report is available online in pdf format (7 MB): USGS OFR 2007-1363 (Opens the PDF file in a new window. )

Gregory S. Cherry and John S. Clarke

U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007-1363, 51 pages (Published October 2007)

ABSTRACT

The source of ground water to production wells at Vogtle Electric Generation Plant (VEGP), a nuclear power plant in Burke County, Georgia, was simulated under existing (2002) and potential future pumping conditions using an existing U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) MODFLOW ground-water flow model of a 4,455-square-mile area in the Coastal Plain of Georgia and South Carolina. Simulation results for three steady-state pumping scenarios were compared to each other and to a 2002 Base Case condition. The pumping scenarios focused on pumping increases at VEGP resulting from projected future demands and the addition of two electrical-generating reactor units. Scenarios simulated pumping increases at VEGP ranging from 1.09 to 3.42 million gallons per day (Mgal/d), with one of the scenarios simulating the elimination of 5.3 Mgal/d of pumping at the Savannah River Site (SRS), a U.S. Department of Energy facility located across the Savannah River from VEGP. The largest simulated water-level changes at VEGP were for the scenario whereby pumping at the facility was more than tripled, resulting in drawdown exceeding 4-8 feet (ft) in the aquifers screened in the production wells. For the scenario that eliminated pumping at SRS, water-level rises of as much as 4-8 ft were simulated in the same aquifers at SRS.

Results of MODFLOW simulations were analyzed using the USGS particle-tracking code MODPATH to determine the source of water and associated time of travel to VEGP production wells. For each of the scenarios, most of the recharge to VEGP wells originated in an upland area near the county line between Burke and Jefferson Counties, Georgia, with none of the recharge originating on SRS or elsewhere in South Carolina. An exception occurs for the scenario whereby pumping at VEGP was more than tripled. For this scenario, some of the recharge originates in an upland area in eastern Barnwell County, South Carolina. Simulated mean time of travel from recharge areas to VEGP wells for the Base Case and the three other pumping scenarios was between about 2,700 and 3,800  years, with some variation related to changes in head gradients because of pumping changes.


CONTENTS

Abstract

Introduction

Purpose and Scope

Description of Study Area

Savannah River Site and Ground-Water Contamination

Climate and Runoff

Hydrogeologic Setting

Structural Features

Hydrogeologic Characteristics of the Savannah River Alluvial Valley

Ground-Water Flow

Trans-River Flow

Effect of Pen Branch Fault

Ground-Water Use

Simulation of Ground-Water Flow

Pen Branch Fault

Ground-Water Pumping Scenarios

2002 Base Case Condition

Scenario A

Scenario B

Scenario C

Model Limitations

Summary and Conclusions

References Cited

 


REPORT AVAILABILITY

This report is available online in pdf format (7 MB): USGS OFR 2007-1363 (Opens the PDF file in a new window. )
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