nuclear-news

More delays, more cost overruns for South Carolina nuclear power plants

SCE&G nuclear plants facing more delays, cost overruns, The State, South Carolina, BY RODDIE BURRIS rburris@thestate.com August 12, 2014 Two nuclear reactors under construction in Fairfield County are facing another significant delay, utility provider S.C. Electric & Gas confirmed.

The delay will put the $10 billion project at V.C. Summer Nuclear Power plant outside the 18-month contingency allowed by state regulators and likely will drive up the costs, but utility officials said they would not know how much until later this year……..

Under conditions of the state’s Baseload Review Act, SCE&G also will have to go back before the S.C. Public Service Commission to get approval of a new construction schedule and likely to seek more money, according to Dukes Scott, PSC spokesman.

SCE&G, which is building the plants with state-owned utility Santee Cooper and has a 55 percent stake in the project, won regulatory approval to raise rates annually for its current customers to help pay for the construction of the nuclear power plants. SCE&G ratepayers already have ponied up numerous increases for the nuclear project, the latest one approved in May.

“We have warned from the start of this risky project that it would face significant delays and cost increases, so there is unfortunately no big surprise in SCE&G’s stunning news,” said Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch). “SCE&G ratepayers, already facing seven rate increases to pay in advance for the nuclear project, will likely take it on the chin by the cost increases due to the announced delays.”

SCANA, parent company of SCE&G, disclosed the newest Summer delay in an afternoon conference call with investors…….

The delay revealed last year was estimated by SCE&G to cost about $278 million. In April, the S.C. Energy Users Committee and the Sierra Club took SCE&G to the Supreme Court asking that those cost delays be borne by SCE&G, not ratepayers, after the PSC ruled the charges could be passed off to the public.

The Supreme Court has not ruled in the case yet.

The expected cost of the latest Summer nuclear plant construction delay could be $500 million, according to Savannah River Site Watch, an anti-nuclear watchdog group that closely follows nuclear issues in South Carolina and elsewhere.

SCE&G officials said they will not know the amount of the cost overruns until they complete negotiations with the consortium building the plants. They expect to reveal those costs by the end of the year.

It is not clear how additional costs from this delay will be handled – that is, whether all or part of the costs will be passed on to ratepayers, or whether SCE&G’s investors will be forced to absorb the losses, or if the construction consortium will have to pay.

Watchdog groups sought to deter the addition of new nuclear reactors at V.C. Summer in 2008 before construction began, arguing conservation, alternative energy and efficiency should first be exhausted for adding new power capacity before more dangerous and costly nuclear options. http://www.thestate.com/2014/08/12/3616030/sceg-nuclear-plants-facing-more.html?sp=/99/101/

August 14, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA