Dive Brief:
-
The South Carolina Public Service Commission has unsealed documents related to the contract costs of building SCANA’s V.C. Summer nuclear reactor, the State reports.
-
The documents show that at least $325 million was spent on additional work ordered, in addition to $15.5 million for training and $1.5 million for cybersecurity improvements.
-
In releasing the documents, which were protected by confidentiality concerns, the PSC said it did not make sense to keep the documents secret in part because the project’s main contractor, Westinghouse Electric has filed for bankruptcy.
Dive Insight:
The V.C. Summer project, like the similar Vogtle project being built by Georgia Power, has been delayed multiple times and is billions of dollars over budget.
The cost of the 2,234 MW project is now approaching $16 billion, compared with an original estimate of about $9 billion, and the project is about two years behind schedule.
The project is now in peril because of Westinghouse’s bankruptcy. In May, SCANA reached and interim agreement with Westinghouse to continue construction on the nuclear project. Right now, SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas and its partner Santee Cooper are weighing whether or not to continue building the project.
The biggest single item in the documents released by the PSC is $250 million for changes to a nuclear reactor shield building. The documents also show an increase of $36.9 million to change the plant’s layout in order to make it more secure.
“We will not offer interpretations or explanations regarding details of the EPC agreement or associated change orders beyond information we provide through our normal disclosure methods,’’ SCE&G spokeswoman Rhonda O’Banion told The State.