A faulty idea that must be rejected: Restart of the VC Summer nuclear reactor construction boondoggle
A cursory “report” by the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council (NAC) – and discussed at the NAC’s October 15, 2024 meeting in Columbia, SC – promotes restart of the construction of Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the VC Summer site north of Columbia, SC. The reactor project was halted in 2017 after costs skyrocketed and continuous schedule delays. The idea of two members of the NAC – a state-sponsored nuclear booster group – should be rejected.
The VC Summer restart proposal makes no sense from a cost, technical, regulatory or political viewpoint. Dominion Energy, which took over from the bankrupt SCANA in 2009, doesn’t support the idea. The “combined license” (COL) for the project was terminated by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2019, meaning that all the equipment at the site can no longer be claimed to have been monitored or qualified to be nuclear quality by the NRC. It may be sold off to Ukraine, which will have to have less rigorous regulations for nuclear reactors and components.
At the end of the meeting, backers reluctantly admitted – in response to a public comment by the SRS Watch director – that they hope that private equity companies would take over the project. Such companies are noted for taking over companies just to make a profit. One NAC member made an incorrect claim that ratepayers would not be impacted but Dominion ratepayers are on the hook for about a $2 billion liability in the project, as imposed by the South Carolina Public Service Commission in January 2019. Ratepayers are now paying 5.6% of the bill for the boondoggle, as SRS watch discovered via a FOIA request: https://srswatch.org/energy-legislation-in-south-carolina-radioactive-must-be-rejected-document-reveals-dominion-customers-paying-5-6-of-bill-for-failed-v-c-summer-reactor-construction-project/
Any equity firm that gets involved in the project will have to deal with ratepayers demanding back what has been bilked from them since the SC PSC approved the project in February 2009. That could be $2 billion or more.
The short report, with lots of photos, is linked here: NAC VC Summer nuclear reactor construction restart report Sept 2024
Archived webcast of the meeting, with presentation about the VC Summer restart idea at the very start of the meeting (about 2 minutes in) & public comment by Tom Clements, SRS Watch director, at the end (around 3 hours 30 seconds): https://www.scstatehouse.gov/video/archives.php?key=14521
News coverage about the scheme, with comments by the SRS Watch director:
The State, Columbia, SC, Oct. 15, 2024
Years after nuclear fiasco soaked ratepayers, leaders look at restarting Summer project
https://www.thestate.com/news/local/environment/article293978684.html
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SC Gazette, Columbia, SC, October 15, 2024e
7 years after SC nuclear debacle, advisory group suggests potential restart of failed project
Photo credit: VC Summer photos by High Flyer