South Carolina Public Service Commission Denies Request for “Emergency Hearing” on Troubled VC Summer Nuclear Reactor Construction Project
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has confirmed is that the “degraded” vessel head at South Carolina Electric & Gas’s (SCE&G) V.C. Summer nuclear reactor in Jenkinsville, South Carolina has been replaced.
Two new AP1000 reactors under construction at the VC Summer site are facing a host of technical and financial issues especially in the aftermath of Westinghouse declaring bankruptcy on March 29, 2017. In response to the crisis at the project, Tom Clements requested an emergency hearing on the issue (Docket 2017-99-E). The SC Public Service Commission denied the request on May 17, 2017, claiming, in error, the thrust of request had been met.
“It is indeed shocking and an affront to SCE&G customers that the PSC is not being pro-active in getting to the bottom of the troubling crisis facing SCE&G due to serious problems facing the nuclear project. Sooner or later the matter of the troubled nuclear project will come before the commission, where all aspects of how the financial and construction problems developed, where they stand now and alternatives to the project will be examined.”