Archivist
University of South Carolina
1322 Greene St.
Columbia, SC 29208
Nuclear Energy
South Carolina was home to a pioneering facility in nuclear energy: the Savannah River Site. The federally-owned plant was built and used primarily for atomic weapons research, but experiments there also affected the nation's later use of nuclear energy. While power generated by nuclear fission first came to the United States in 1954, nuclear energy usage didn't reach South Carolina until 1963, when the Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor/Parr Nuclear Station began operation. This facility served as a four-year experiment with heavy water nuclear power production. The state delved further into nuclear energy production in 1969 with the opening of the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility, which to this day produces fuel for nuclear power plants across the country. A year later, the H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, South Carolina's first non-experimental commercial nuclear energy facility, opened for business. Since then, three other facilities have begun operation across the state; all four facilities continue to power the state.
Drawing from "Nuclear Power Plants and You: A Citizens Handbook" of the Environmentalists, Inc. Papers, South Carolina Political Collections, The University of South Carolina. Click to expand.
Collection Connections
- Blatt, Solomon (1895-1986)Boxes 5, 14. Some information about the Barnwell Nuclear Reprocessing Plant and the Savannah River Site, as well as a 1974 statement from an Allied-General Nuclear Services hearing.
- Culbertson, John Bolt (1908-1983)Box 17. Some general information on nuclear energy.
- Derrick, Butler (1936-2014)Boxes 1, 4, 8, 12, 16, 18-20, 22, 25, 29, 31-34, 36-37, 42, 44, 51, 61-62, 75, 87-92. Information on the Barnwell Nuclear Reprocessing Plant, the Savannah River Site, the Clinch River Breeder Reactor (in Tennessee), and the Nuclear Energy Authorization Act of 1981. Derrick was a member of the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Board during his term in the S.C. House of Representatives.
- Dorn, William Jennings Bryan (1916-2005)Box 99. Some information on the Southern Interstate Nuclear Board.
- Gressette, L. Marion (1902-1984)Box 3. Some general information on nuclear energy.
- Grose, Philip G. (1938-2012)Box 11. Some general information on nuclear energy.
- Harvin, C. Alexander III (1950-2005)Boxes 5, 23. Some information on the Barnwell Nuclear Reprocessing Plant and the Savannah River Site.
- Hollings, Ernest F. "Fritz" (1922-2019)Gubernatorial Box 19; Senate Boxes 100, 119, 146, 199, 232-233, 271, 303, 326, 461, 509, 558, 689-690, 693, 724, 748-749, 756, 770. Information on Barnwell Nuclear Reprocessing Plant, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and the Savannah River Plant. Includes audio and video recordings.
- Hull, Edward Whaley Seabrook (1923-2007)Box 7. Some information on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
- Johnston, Olin Dewitt Talmadge (1896-1965)Boxes 26, 29, 35, 41, 47, 53, 64, 71, 88. General information on nuclear energy, as well as some information on the Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor/Parr Nuclear Station.
- Kelly, Mary T. (1923-2013)Boxes 5-13. Information on the amended Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the Barnwell Nuclear Reprocessing Plant, the Savannah River Site, the Global Nuclear Energy Project, the Crystalline Repository Project, other projects from the U.S. Department of Energy, and the League of Women Voters' work on nuclear energy.
- Keyserling, Harriet H. (1922-2010)Boxes 12-15, 35, 40, 43-44. Information on the Barnwell Nuclear Reprocessing Plant, the Savannah River Site and its Energy Research Foundation, and Chem-Nuclear Systems, as well as topics including accidents in nuclear plants and health hazards. Keyserling became the chair of the South Carolina House Energy Committee in 1991.
- League of Women Voters of Columbia/Richland CountyBox 13. General information on nuclear energy.
- League of Women Voters of South CarolinaBoxes 28, 38. General information on nuclear energy, as well as some information on the Savannah River Plant and the League's Nuclear Energy Education Project of 1980-1981. Includes slides.
- McMillan, John L. (1898-1979)Box 7. Some information on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
- Waites, Candy Yaghjian (b. 1943)Boxes 2-3, 8. Information on the Barnwell Nuclear Reprocessing Plant and the Savannah River Site, as well as the environmental impact of nuclear plants.
- Walker, Richard L. "Dixie" (1922-2003)Box 8. Notes for a speech to the Fifth U.S.-Republic of Korea Joint Standing Committee on Nuclear and other Energy.
- West, John Carl (1922-2004)Box 34. A speech given at the dedication of the H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant in 1971.
- Workman, William D., Jr. (1914-1990)Boxes 29-30. Information on Allied General Nuclear Services, Carolinas/Virginia Nuclear Power Associates, the Southern Interstate Nuclear Board, and the Savannah River Site.