Here in Columbia, South Carolina – aka New Nuclear Ground Zero – we’re overwhelmed with nuclear construction boondoggles, all with dysfunctional project management, massive cost overruns and chronic schedule delays. Starting to see a pattern? Take your pick of photos from the Axis of Boondoggles:

1. Inept SCE&G’s VC Summer nuclear reactor construction project (now terminated – warnings issued at the start of the project in 2008 by Friends of the Earth were repeatedly ignored) – linked here

2. DOE’s $17 billion plutonium fuel MOX construction project (amongst the walking dead, a zombie project on the way to formal termination) – linked here

3. Georgia Power’s $25 billion Vogtle project (just across the river from SRS) – fate unknown but backers seeking federal handouts and bailouts on all sides, revealing that the project would crumble in a free-market situation – linked here

Some commonalities between the boondoggles are contractors CB&I and Superior Air Handling (HVAC). The role of both companies at the nuclear project merit investigation. Why does CB&I remain at the MOX debacle, via CB&I AREVA MOX Services, when it was kicked off the AP1000 reactor projects in January 2016? Do the feds tolerate incompetence more than private industry? Is Superior Air handling Corporation (SAHCo, better known as CHAOS) being investigated for possible fraud, waste and abuse for its lengthy presence at the MOX project and its role in the massive, ongoing “rework” problems? If not, why not?

Footer