Stamped for failure: Westinghouse and SCANA used unlicensed workers to design abandoned S.C. nuclear reactors
Charleston (South Carolina) Post & Courier, September 24, 2017, article linked here
Start-up of the Chinese AP1000 at Sanmen in China has taken almost a year so far. If you have information about what’s up and if there are problems, let us know: srswatch@gmail.com.
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H-Canyon reprocessing plant exhaust tunnel collapse remains a concern
See Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) weekly report for September 1, 2017 – linked here
H-Area Seismic Response: The DOE/SRNS assessment concluded that operations personnel had adequate knowledge to respond to a seismic event and/or H-Canyon exhaust tunnel collapse. The team identified several abnormal operating and alarm response procedures to revise so they address different exhaust tunnel failures and the loss of utilities in a seismic event. The team also identified the need for new drills, training on how safety systems react to a seismic event, and evaluating diesel generator fuel usage and fan configuration following a tunnel failure.
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Did South Carolina Electric & Gas lie in SEC filings?
SCANA being investigated by federal grand jury over failed nuke project – September 21, 2017 article linked here
“Initial Investigation of SCANA Corporation (SCG)” on behalf of shareholders – news release of September 22, 2017 linked here
More on U S Market Advisers lawsuit – linked here
Rest assured that Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club will probe into all this before the South Carolina Public Service Commission. The FOE/Sierra Club complaint before the PSC remains alive – Docket 2017-207-E – but is in abeyance and ready to be activated if and when SCE&G files to recover the money is wasted on the VC Summer nuclear debacle.
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The risk of Japanese stockpiling of weapon-usable plutonium…
“Japan’s bomb in the basement”
Asia Times, September 22, 2017 – article linked here
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Uh oh! The feds are after SCANA for its mismanaged nuclear boondoggle – is prison in the future for some of them?
Was South Carolina Electric & Gas and its parent company SCANA engaged in fraud concerning what it reported to the SEC and others about the abandoned VC Summer nuclear project? It has become very clear that the company hid important information about cost overruns, schedule delays and construction and management problems.
“SCANA being investigated by federal grand jury over failed nuke project”
The State, Columbia, South Carolina, September 21, 2017
Secret Bechtel report outlining problems – was withheld from regulators and intervenors at the SC PSC – linked here
SCANA’s most recent 10Q filing with the Securities & Exchange commission, August 4, 2017 – linked here
Note that SCANA hopes to make certain tax questions deductions – the company has said this amounts to $700 million, to be used to lessen the impact to ratepayers of ther $5 billion wasted on the VC Summer nuclear project – see page 50:
The Company and Consolidated SCE&G are engaged in activities for which they have claimed, and expect to claim in the future, research and experimentation tax deductions and credits and abandonment losses, all of which are the subject of uncertainty and which may be considered controversial by the taxing authorities. The outcome of those uncertainties could adversely impact cash flows and financial condition.
The Company and Consolidated SCE&G have claimed significant research and experimentation tax deductions and credits related to the design and construction activities of the New Units. These claims followed the issuance of final IRS regulations in 2014 regarding such treatment with respect to expenditures related to the design and construction of pilot models. (See also Uncertain Income Tax Positions within the Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates section of Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Note 5 to the consolidated financial statements in the Registrants’ Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016.)
These tax claims primarily involve the timing of recognition of tax deductions rather than permanent tax attributes. The permanent attributes (net), as well as most of the interest accruals required to be recorded with respect to them, have been deferred within regulatory assets. As such, these claims have not had, and are not expected to have in the future, significant direct effects on the Company’s and Consolidated SCE&G’s results of operations. Nonetheless, the claims have contributed significantly to the Company’s and Consolidated SCE&G’s cash flows. Also, the claims have provided a significant source of capital and have lessened the level of debt and equity financing that the Company and Consolidated SCE&G have needed to raise in the financial markets. Similar benefits may be provided by claims for abandonment losses following the Company’s determination to abandon the construction of the New Units.
However, the claims made to date are under examination, and may be considered controversial, by the IRS. Tax deductions which may be claimed in connection with the determination to abandon the construction of the New Units may also be considered controversial; therefore, it is also expected that the IRS will examine future tax returns. To the extent that any of these claims are not sustained on examination or through any subsequent appeal, the Company and Consolidated SCE&G will be required to repay any cash received for tax benefit claims which are ultimately disallowed, along with interest on those amounts. Such amounts could be significant and could adversely affect the Company’s and Consolidated SCE&G’s cash flows and financial condition. In certain circumstances, which management considers to be remote, penalties for underpayment of income taxes could also be assessed. Additionally, in such circumstances, the Company and Consolidated SCE&G may need to access the capital markets to fund those tax and interest payments, which could in turn adversely impact their ability to access financial markets for other purposes.
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Japan reveals massive and unnecessary stockpile of weapon-usable plutonium due to spent fuel reprocessing – proof that reprocessing was justification to stockpile plutonium
see report by Office of Atomic Energy Policy, August 1, 2017 – linked here
As of the end of 2016, the total amount of separated plutonium both managed within and outside of Japan was approximately 46.9 tons, approximately 9.8 tons of which was held domestically and the rest of approximately 37.1 tons was held abroad.
The stockpile held abroad was separated from spent fuel of Japanese nuclear power plants in reprocessing facilities in the UK and France under contracts with Japanese electric utilities. ①Reprocessing of spent fuel contracted out to France has been completed and approximately 16.2 tons of separated plutonium is held there as of the end of 2016. ②As for the reprocessing of spent fuel contracted out to the U.K., approximately 20.8 tons of separated plutonium is held in the U.K. There was no plutonium newly separated and added to the stock in 2016. Approximately 1 ton of plutonium from the remaining spent fuel contracted out to the U.K. will be added to the stockpile by 2018, when the reprocessing facility in the U.K. is scheduled to be closed.
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Latest filings in Friends of the Earth/Sierra Club docket (2017-207-E) for a hearing on SCE&G’s VC Summer nuclear reactor debacle, August 24, 2017
FOE/Sierra Club filing to proceed with hearing and “discovery” of SCE&G documents, August 22 – linked here
Coastal Conservation League, in support of FOE/Sierra Club petition, August 23 – linked here
SCE&G’s response on motion to dismiss & keep docket in abeyance, August 23 (written by author of unjust Baseload Review Act – who now has no credibility) – linked here
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Friends of the Earth files unsolicited testimony with South Carolina legislature on SCE&G’s V.C. Summer nuclear, August 22, 2017
news release:
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Trouble ahead for aging H-Canyon reprocessing plant at SRS?
DNFSB report linked here
DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD
July 28, 2017
TO: S. A. Stokes, Technical Director
FROM: M. T. Sautman and Z. C. McCabe, Resident Inspectors
SUBJECT: Savannah River Site Resident Inspector Report for Week Ending July 28, 2017
D. L. Burnfield assisted with resident inspector duties this week.
H-Canyon: DOE believes the recent Potential Inadequacy in the Safety Analysis for H-Canyon and HB-Line related to the H-Canyon exhaust tunnel structural integrity (see 6/16/17 report) warrants a revalidation of procedures, processes, and personnel needed to appropriately respond to a seismic event. DOE requested that a joint SRNS/DOE evaluation of the preparedness of facility operations to respond to a seismic event be completed by August 11. The assessment will consist of interviews, an integrated tabletop review and walkdown, and a procedure review.
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N.S. SAVANNAH
DECOMMISSIONING FUNDS STATUS REPORT
FOR CY 2016
1.0 INTRODUCTION
This Decommissioning Funds Status Report is submitted by the Maritime Administration (MARAD) as licensee for the Nuclear Ship SAVANNAH (NSS) and covers the calendar year (CY) 2016 reporting period.
This report incorporates the guidance contained in Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.159, “Assuring the Availability of Funds for Decommissioning Nuclear Reactors,” Rev 1, Reference (a). The report is arranged in four sections following this introduction.
In accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 50.75(f)(l), each power reactor that has already closed is required to report annually the status of its decommissioning funds to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on a CY basis. Section 2.0 of this Decommissioning Funds Status Report includes the seven (7) reports required by 10 CFR 50.75(f)(l).
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Things are moving at a dizzying pace here in South Carolina concerning the failed VC Summer reactor project.
On the heels of inept SCE&G withdrawing (for now) its “abandonment petition” with the South Carolina Public Service Commission – see letter here – the SC legislature has scheduled meetings of two new committees to review the situation.
August 22: Senate “V. C. Summer Nuclear Project Review Committee” – agenda linked here
August 23: House “Utility Ratepayer Protection Committee” –
agenda linked here
We note that the groups fighting o n behalf of the public interest since the ill-fated project was first proposed – Friends of the Earth & Sierra Club – were not invited to testify. That causes us to wonder if the committees are getting off to a bad start or not. Mainly, the agencies that enabled the projects to go into the ditch – Office of Regulatory Staff (aka Office of Rubber Stamp) and the SC Public Service Commission (aka Puppet Service Commission) will spin their own-sided view of how they aren’t to blame. Like SCE&G, nobody’s to blame for wasting $9 billion on a project doomed from the start, RIGHT????!!!
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SCANA (parent of inept SCE&G) files VC Summer reactor construction report – through June 30, 2017, before the boondoggle was terminated, released on August 14, 2017
V.C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 & 3
Quarterly Report to the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff
Submitted by South Carolina Electric & Gas Company
Pursuant to Public Service Commission Order No. 2009-104(A)
Quarter Ending June 30, 2017t
The report confirms that construction was only 36% at the end of June 2017 and that the pace of construction had slowed. The report is worth a read to see where SCANA claims what the status of construction was when the boondoggle was finally terminated on July 31, 2017.
In conclusion, the report states: In light of the decision which SCE&G made on July 31, 2017, to abandon the construction of Units 2 and 3 at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, S.C., the Company is working to safely and efficiently demobilize construction and to stabilize the site.
While SCE&G claims it will spend $220 million before September 30 in order to secure the site, no formal, detailed abandonment plan has been produced or approved. Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club will be asking about this plan during proceeding before the South Carolina Public Service Commission.
Photo: VC Summer site, ©High Flyer, May 26, 2017
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Is the independence of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board at risk due to pressure by DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration?
The DNFSB is an independent agency that’s supposed to provide advice to DOE on safety of operations. Two DNFSB board members have, to their credit, written a memo against detailing of DNFSB staff to the NNSA where they would advocate for NNSA programs.
The DNFSB weekly reports are a window in to DOE operations and we need the DNFSB’s independence in its work.
See “Objection to Memorandum of Agreement with NNSA/DOE” and language from the “memorandum of Agreement” between the NNSA and DOE/NNSA, August 11, 2017 – linked here
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1. SUPPLEMENT by Frank G Klotz, Ernest Moniz, National Nuclear Security Administration, United States, United States Department of Energy – linked here
National Nuclear Security Administration argues that it’s pursuing the “dilute and dispose” method of plutonium with diligence, that the court can’t order the failed MOX project to continue
2. Exhibit 1, Gunter Declaration with Attachments – linked here
Allen Gunter describes plutonium storage at SRS, history and status of “dilute and dispose,” goal to remove 1 MT/year of plutonium via dilute and dispose by Fiscal Year 2025 and a description of the downblending process
photo: drums containing downblended plutonium SRS, at the waste isolation Pilot plant (WIPP) in new Mexico, October 1, 2015
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Will the remaining reprocessing facility at SRS – the H-Canyon – have to be closed due deterioration of the exhaust tunnel? The problems with this key feature to filter nuclear materials from the facility may be compromised and unsafe in the case of a seismic event. it may be time to wind up H-Canyon operation and finally implement dry cask storage of spent research reactor fuel (now stored in the L-Basin)
DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARDJuly 14, 2017
TO: S. A. Stokes, Technical Director
FROM: M. T. Sautman and Z. C. McCabe, Resident Inspectors
SUBJECT: Savannah River Site Resident Inspector Report for Week Ending July 14, 2017
H-Canyon Exhaust (HCAEX) Tunnel: H-Canyon personnel entered the potential inadequacy in the safety analysis (PISA) process and determined that a positive unreviewed safety question (USQ) existed when Savannah River National Laboratory personnel reported preliminary indications from testing performed on concrete that had been exposed to the HCAEX environment (see 6/30/17 report). The preliminary indications suggest that a portion of the concrete exposed to the HCAEX environment may be affected more than what was previously considered in the structural analysis. Therefore, the ability of the HCAEX tunnel to perform its safety function is indeterminate.
read full DNFSB weekly report here
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Congressional Research Service report of August 10, 2017 – not publicly released and posted only here (for now):
“Rising Costs and Delays Doom New Nuclear Reactors in South Carolina”
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Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I) construction company badly bungled the job at VC Summer, Vogtle & MOX. At least the utilities had the sense to kick them off the job at the AP1000 reactor construction projects. so why do they hang on at the MOX boondoggle? What is it with the feds in tolerating poor management and the continuous waste of billions of our dollars??????
“Chicago Bridge & Iron Plunges After Disastrous Q2, Here’s Why”
August 11, 2017 article linked here
Search on Google for “CB&I stock” and you’ll see it’s slightly up today (August 11) but that it has fallen off the cliff this year. No doubt they and AREVA have made profits milking us taxpayers at the bungled MOX project but that tap will soon be turned off. Time to prepare for the softest landing possible for MOX workers. They deserve ample lay-off notice, severance pay and job relocation help.
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Our heads are spinning in South Carolina at the chaos in the aftermath of inept SCE&G’s cancellation of its bungled nuclear reactor project.
When will heads start rolling for the colassal waste of $9 billion on a project that was doomed from the start?????
We won’t post the many articles here but on the afternoon of August 9 there was a significant development. The SC Office of Regulatory Staff filed a “Motion to Dismiss” the SCE&G abandonment docket (2017-244-E) that was opened at last week by the South Carolina Public Service Commission. SCE&G should show its action were prudent and the burden should not be on the public to prove imprudence.
See August 9 ORS Motion to Dismiss linked here but soon to be posted in docket linked above on the SC PSC website.
South Carolina legislature’s Speaker of the House, Representative Jay Lucas, intervenes in SCE&G’s docket, to protest their sock-it-to ratepayers scheme – linked here
We’re betting the heat is too hot on SCE&G and they will step back from their plan to stick $4.9 billion in sunk costs to ratepayers at 10.25% for 60 years. Nobody is buying that here and watch for legislative pushback and perhaps criminal investigation as to what went on at the VC Summer construction site
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Dumping of broken Canadian research reactor spent fuel in L-Basin at SRS being considered – NAC cask being reviewed for NRU/NRX broken fuel from Chalk River Labs, Ontario. Do they think South Carolina is just a dumping ground (enabled by SRS and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions officials who want to make a buck off H-Canyon operation)?
Why do the Canadians insist on dumping high-level nuclear waste on SRS? This nasty habit must be broken and they must deal with their own nuclear mess
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
PUBLIC MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
Title: Notice of Partially Closed Teleconference between NAC International and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Date(s) and Time(s): August 15, 2017, 02:00 PM to 03:00 PM
Location: Teleconference
Category: This is a Category 1 meeting. The public is invited to observe this meeting and will have one or more opportunities to communicate with the NRC after the business portion of the meeting but before the meeting is adjourned.
Purpose: Teleconference to discuss NAC International’s responses to NRC’s Request for Additional Information regarding NAC’s request to add damaged NRU/NRX fuel as approved contents for the NAC-LWT package.
Contact fro call-in number and documents: John Vera. 301-415-5790, john.vera@nrc.gov
NRC notice:
https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/view?AccessionNumber=ML17216A827
Public handout for meeting – with much information blacked out – linked here
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SRS Watch brief statement linked here
Fling by State of South Carolina vs USA, in Federal Claims Court,
case 1:17-cv-01068-MMS, August 7, 2017 — linked here
This lawsuit by the SC attorney general is posturing and will do nothing to get plutonium out of SRS. It underscores what an abject failure MOX is and that termination of that boondoggle must proceed. For the record, we warned the state in the late 1990s about allowing in plutonium with no clear exit strategy.
We wouldn’t mind that MOX be promptly shut down, as will eventually happen, and some of the money that would thus not be wasted be given to the State of South Carolina for financing public education in poor parts of the state. Congress would have to appropriate that money and we look forward to seeing the lawsuit
“SC Files $100 Million Lawsuit Against U.S.” – SC attorney general news release – linked here
“The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit Monday against the federal government to recover $100 million the U.S. Department of Energy owes the state for failing to meet its promise to remove one ton of plutonium from the Savannah River Site this year.“
For other exhibits in the case, create a PACER account – to see: “COMPLAINT against USA (DOE) (Filing fee $400, Receipt number 9998-4115693) (Copy Served Electronically on Department of Justice), filed by STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.Answer due by 10/6/2017. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1, # 2 Exhibit 2, # 3 Exhibit 3, # 4 Exhibit 4, # 5 Exhibit 5, # 6 Exhibit 6, # 7 Exhibit 7, # 8 Exhibit 8, # 9 Exhibit 9, # 10 Exhibit 10, # 11 Exhibit 11, # 12 Exhibit 12, # 13 Exhibit 13, # 14 Exhibit 14, # 15 Civil Cover Sheet, # 16 Exh. List)(ac7) (Entered: 08/07/2017)”
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COLUMBIA, S.C. – In an effort to protect ratepayers and advocate for alternative energy, Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club today filed a formal intervention against a proposal from South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G) to abandon its troubled nuclear construction project and charge ratepayers $2.2 billion over the next 60 years to pay for the failed project.
The plan, filed on August 1 by SCE&G with South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC), abandoned the problem-plagued V.C. Summer reactor construction project. (See Docket 2017-244-E.) The project was abruptly halted on July 31 after continuous formal opposition by Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club since 2008.
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Belton Zeigler step forward – justice may have been delayed since 2007 but it is now being rendered
The nuclear reactor nuclear debacle in South Carolina unfolds and the culprits are being revealed.
Belton Zeigler, author of the Baseload Review Act (BLRA) – the unjust South Carolina law passed in 2007 that is sticking it to ratepayers for SCE&G’s failed nuclear reactor project – is called out!
Belton Zeigler step forward and be recognized for screwing ratepayers and the state of South Carolina, while serving the profiteers at $outh Carolina Electric & Ga$ in the $9 billion loss on the terminated nuclear reactor project at the VC Summer site.
See Zeigler’s bio on the
Womble Carlyle law firm’s website:http://www.wcsr.com/Professionals/Lawyer-Bios/Zeigler-Belton-T
Belton has participated as a lead attorney in multiple general gas and electric rate cases and numerous smaller regulatory proceedings. He worked with the South Carolina General Assembly to draft the Base Load Review Act, the Distributed Energy Resources Act, and the Natural Gas Rate Stabilization Act. Zeigler has extensive experience in the state regulation of solar and nuclear power and has been instrumental in shaping South Carolina’s laws regulating those industries.
Let’s see if the text above changes over the coming days as South Carolina wakes up to the role Zeigler played in this unmitigated ripoff of SCE&G customers….
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Breaking news – Saturday morning, August 5, 2017
South Carolina Public Service Commission buckles under growing pressure in aftermath of collapse of SCE&G’s nuclear reactor construction project and fails to rubber stamp SCE&G request for expedited hearing dates on reactor “abandonment plan” – the plan which would stick ratepayers for costs of the terminated project for 60 years
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA
CLERK’S OFFICE
NOTICE OF FILING
DOCKET NO. 2017-244-E
August 4 letters of note – concerning special session of SC legislature to review the implosion of the reactor project:
from leaders in SC legislature – linked here
from SC attorney general – linked here
ACTION – RED ALERT for South Carolina Citizens & Ripped-Off SCE&G Ratepayers – linked here – Attend legislature’s “Public Utilities Review Commission” in Columbia, SC on August 23, 2017 – Time to hold the South Carolina Public Service Commission & S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff Accountable (& director Dukes Scott) for giving SCE&G everything it’s wanted since this debacle began in 2008 and for not properly reviewing the project, despite continued pleas from Friends of the Earth & the Sierra Club
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Federal judge in Columbia, SC orders DOE to file delayed documents by August 11 on failure of MOX project at SRS and failure to begin removing plutonium from South Carolina, as required by law
As MOX has failed and given plutonium “dilute and dispose” is only slowly packaging plutonium for removal from the site, DOE is faced with plutonium-removal requirements of a law it can’t technically meet
August 1 ruling by Judge J Michelle Childs – U.S. District Court District of South Carolina (Aiken) – CIVIL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 1:16-cv-00391-JMC
The court finds that Defendants proposed September 15, 2017 deadline is not acceptable. As the State points out, Defendants have already been accorded more than four months to develop a proposed injunctive order….Accordingly, Defendants are hereby ORDERED to file the statement contemplated by the courts March 20, 2017 order on or before August 11, 2017.
Two filings of July 31, 2017 by State of South Carolina, objecting to lack of response by DOE
linked here and linked here
photo: in front of federal court house, Columbia, SC, June 30, 2016, on event of one hearing of the State of SC vs DOE, ©Paul Palmer, Sierra Club/Carolina Peace Resource Center
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Check them out in this WANTED poster, which has information on the back side about the unjust law – Baseload Review Act (BLRA) that allowed this boondoggle to develop and continue in South Carolina.
“The Base Load Review Act (BLRA), was enacted into law in 2007 as “an act to protect South Carolina ratepayers.” This is the opposite of the truth. The unjust BLRA was written by SC utility industry lawyers for the purpose of saddling SC electricity ratepayers with the extremely risky and costly business venture of building new nuclear power reactors.”
poster linked here
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In Face of Mounting Concern by the Public and S.C. Legislators, South Carolina Public Service Commission Rejects SCE&G’s “Motion to Dismiss” Hearing by Friends of the Earth/Sierra Club – Docket 2017-207-E
PSC Presents Possibility for FOE/Sierra Club Docket to be “Consolidated” with SCE&G’s “Abandonment” Docket – Docket 2017-244-E
Filings by FOE/Sierra Club and SCE&G on Docket Consolidation due with in 21 day
South Carolina PSC Order – issued after regular meeting on Wednesday, August 2, 2017:
https://dms.psc.sc.gov/Attachments/Order/fbdca232-5e2c-4410-8f4c-eb0d9b719337
Order Holding in Abeyance All Procedural Matters – Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club, Complainant/Petitioner v. South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, Defendant/Respondent
THIS DIRECTIVE SHALL SERVE AS THE COMMISSION’S ORDER ON THIS ISSUE.
DOCKET NO. 2017-207-E – Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club, Complainant/Petitioner v. South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, Defendant/Respondent – Staff Presents for Commission Consideration Complainants’ Request for Oral Argument and Defendant’s Request for Suspension of Discovery and Prefile Testimony Deadlines.
COMMISSION ACTION:
In light of the announcements yesterday by Santee Cooper and SCE&G related to the V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3, I move that we hold in abeyance all procedural matters currently pending in the docket. Under this motion, the discovery date and pre-filing dates would be held in abeyance, as is consideration of the pending motion to dismiss filed by SCE&G, including the request for oral arguments, and any other procedural issues would also be held in abeyance. All parties would be requested to file, within 21 days, a brief communicating their positions as to how the Santee Cooper and SCE&G announcements affect the litigation in the present docket, including whether this docket should be consolidated with SCE&G’s filing August 1, 2017, in Docket No. 2017-244-E. All matters would be held in abeyance until after the filing of briefs. So moved.
Comment on the PSC vote by Tom Clements, senior adviser, Friends of the Earth: “A vote in the public interest by the PSC is unprecedented and it is thus clear that the PSC is feeling the growing pressure to not simply kowtow to SCE&G’s misguided and disturbing plan to charge ratepayers for 60 years for the failed nuclear project. We are pleased with this vote and view it highly likely that our docket will be merged with the abandonment docket of SCE&G, preserving our right to explore the past prudency and cost overrun decisions.”
photo: August 2, 2017, South Carolina PSC hearing room during discussion of agenda item on FOE/Sierra Club hearing – SCE&G lost the vote
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article: “Doomed nuclear project prompts overhaul of review process,” Associated Press, August 2, 2017, linked here
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Push back against rubber-stamping of decisions by the South Carolina Public Service Commission and S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) is beginning. Scrutiny like never before of PSC and ORS is developing. In the aftermath of the reactor construction debacle and efforts by SCE&G to force ratepayers to pay for the abandonment costs for sixty years – that’s 60! – for the project – a review of energy policy making and those who make decisions is now on the table.
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August 2, 2017: News on VC Summer reactor project closure – what a shame that $9 billion has been wasted – SCE&G, Santee Cooper, the South Carolina Public Service Commission and the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff have been repeatedly warned by Friends of the Earth & the Sierra Club about the risks and need for alternative energy – see original docket in 2008, before SC PSC (Docket 2008-196-E), with Friends of the Earth as the entity speaking the truth that has now emerged
SC PSC to rule on Friends of the Earth/Sierra Club request for hearing on the nuclear project and claw back of money for ratepayers and pursuit of alternative energy – at PSC in Columbia, 2 p.m, Wednesday, August 2 – agenda linked here
South Carolina legislators concerned about the VC Summer debacle and impact to ratepayers to hold news event on August 2, 10:30 a.m., state capitol, to announce “Bi-Partisan Group of South Carolina Legislators Form New Energy Caucus – Driven by Suspension of the V.C. Summer nuclear project, SC Energy Caucus will fight to protect state’s ratepayers” – news release linked here
“Petition of South Carolina Electric & Gas Company for Prudency Determination Regarding Abandonment, Amendments to the Construction Schedule, Capital Cost Schedule and Other Terms of the BLRA Orders for the V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3 and Related Matters, along with a Motion for Expedited Hearing” – filed August 1 – designed to stick SCE&G ratepayers with abandonment costs – Docket 2017-244-E linked here
“SCANA sought other partners for troubled V.C. Summer plant before halting construction,” Charlotte (NC) Business Journal, August 1,
article inked here
“Minimize ratepayer fallout” – Charleston Post & Courier, August 1, 2017, – article linked here
“Billions down the drain as new nuclear plants scrapped,”
Associated Press, August 1, article linked here
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Construction of V.C. Summer nuclear reactor project terminated by project owners: South Carolina Electric & Gas and the S.C. Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper), July 31, 2017
“U.S. Nuclear Comeback Stalls as Two Reactors Are Abandoned,” New York Times, July 31, linked here
“SCE&G, Santee Cooper abandon nuclear power project” – The State, July 31, 2017, linked here
“Nuclear Meltdown: Utilities Pull Plug on VC Summer” –
Free Times, weekly in Columbia, SC, July 31, linked here
“Santee Cooper, SCE&G pill plug on roughly $25 billion nuclear plants in South Carolina,” Charleston (SC) Post and Courier, July 31, linked here
“South Carolina Bungled Nuclear Reactor Construction Project Canceled,” Friends of the Earth news release,
July 31, linked here
Resolution passed by Santee Cooper board on July 31, terminating the rector project – linked here – and Santee cooper fact sheet on the project – linked here
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