SCE&G Withdraws Request to Shut Down V.C. Summer Construction
South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G), principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation (SCANA) (NYSE: SCG), announced today that it will voluntarily withdraw its Abandonment Petition from the Public Service Commission of South Carolina that was made under the Base Load Review Act (BLRA) concerning SCE&G’s new nuclear project.
Over the past two weeks, SCE&G management has met with various stakeholders and members of the South Carolina General Assembly, including legislative leaders, to discuss the abandonment of the new nuclear project and to hear their concerns. SCE&G’s withdrawal decision was in response to those concerns, and to allow for adequate time for governmental officials to conduct their reviews.
“We have been meeting with governmental officials and various stakeholders since our announcement to abandon the new nuclear project,” said Kevin Marsh, SCANA Chairman and CEO. “The purpose of these ongoing meetings is to discuss their concerns and to explain the path that led us to the abandonment decision. While ceasing construction was always our least desired option, based on the impact of the bankruptcy of Westinghouse on our fixed price construction contract, the results of our evaluation of the cost and time to complete the project, and Santee Cooper’s decision to suspend construction, abandonment was the prudent decision.”
CE&G owns 60% of the new units, and South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper) owns 40%.
“To be clear, our decision to withdraw the filing does not mean we are reconsidering the decision to cease construction of V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3,” an SCE&G spokesperson said. “For reasons we’ve already outlined, including the impact of the Westinghouse bankruptcy on our fixed-price construction contract, the results of our evaluation of the cost and time to complete the project, and Santee Cooper’s decision to suspend construction, we still believe the most prudent decision is to abandon the project. That said, we understand the magnitude of this decision and the impact it has had on many people. So before moving forward with the regulatory process, we believe it would be appropriate to allow more time for our state’s governmental officials to fully review and understand how we arrived at our decision to file for abandonment.”
On August 1st, the company announced it was ending their involvement with the multi-billion dollar project two build a second and third reactor at the facility. Over 5,600 workers lost their jobs. The unexpected halt in construction activity has impacted dozens of businesses in Fairfield County.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has called for an investigation and is actively exploring options to bring in a new buyer for the facility.
The project has been plagued with problems and cost over runs. In March 2017, designer and contractor Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy. After an extensive review into the costs of constructing Units 2 and 3, SCE&G decided to stop construction of the reactors and will file a Petition for Approval of Abandonment with the Public Service Commission of South Carolina.
