May 2 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bruce Henderson The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Anti-nuclear groups and civic boosters lined up Thursday night at an initial hearing over Duke Energy's planned nuclear plant 40 miles southwest of Charlotte.

The 2,234-megawatt Lee Nuclear Plant, which could go online by 2018, would be Duke's first since 1985. Duke applied in December to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to build and operate the plant.

The NRC hearing solicited public input before it begins a study of the plant's environmental impact. The study will be completed in about two years. About 200 people attended the hearing at Gaffney High School.

Representatives of chambers of commerce, local governments and members of Congress took the podium to praise the project, which will employ 3,000 construction workers and 800 to 1,000 permanent employees.

Environmentalists insisted the plant isn't needed, saying alternative energy and energy efficiency could take its place. They also questioned the plant's cost to ratepayers.

Duke says it doesn't know what it would cost to build two reactors at the new plant. It has estimated costs at $8 billion to $8.9 billion, based on industry studies.

The NRC's environmental study will evaluate a range of issues, from lost farmland to the plant's heavy water use.