Site Selection and Evaluation of Alternatives by United States Utilities

Each electric utility faces unique problems in selecting generating sites. Companies and their consultants have used many methods for site selection and evaluation, and new siting methodologies are continually being developed. To analyze current practice and hopefully to provide a better background for utilities and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in preparing environmental evaluations of alternative sites, a study was authorized under the Atomic Industrial Forum’s Nuclear Environmental Studies Project. The study revealed that a number of logics are in use and that a generic framework could be presented to describe the site selection process.