South Carolina’s $9 billion nuclear fiasco – another legal saga develops, criminal investigation coming
3 years later: How the fallout from SC’s $9 billion nuclear fiasco continues Post and Courier, By Avery G. Wilks and Andrew Brown awilks@postandcourier.com abrown@postandcourier.com, Jul 31, 2020
- It has been three years since two of South Carolina’s largest electric utilities abandoned their $9 billion effort to build two nuclear reactors, but the legal, political and financial consequences continue to ripple across the Palmetto State.
The scuttled V.C. Summer expansion in Fairfield County is now widely considered one of the biggest business failures in the state’s history. The announcement of the project’s cancellation on July 31, 2017, shook South Carolina’s power industry, state government and business community.
The two homegrown S.C. utilities that partnered on the project were thrown into disarray. Investigations were initiated by state lawmakers, financial regulators and federal law enforcement officials.
The state and federal court systems were flooded overnight with lawsuits by investors, ratepayers, construction workers and lenders. The state regulatory system that backed the project for nearly a decade was called into question.
And more than 1.7 million utility customers with S.C. Electric & Gas, Santee Cooper and the state’s 19 local electric cooperatives realized they might be forced to pay billions of dollars more for a power plant that will never produce a watt of electricity.
Much has changed since Santee Cooper and SCE&G’s leaders suddenly announced the project’s collapse. But the saga isn’t over quite yet. Here is a breakdown of where things stand. Continue reading
Legal case settled over nuclear plant Vogtle
JEA Settles Litigation Over Nuclear Plant Vogtle, WJCT News 89.9, By BILL BORTZFIELD • JUL 30, 2020 JEA has ended its attempt to get out of a deal it made to buy electricity from a Georgia nuclear power plant that has seen billions of dollars in cost overruns.
Thursday afternoon Jacksonville’s public utility announced it has settled litigation and all related claims with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) in its dispute over the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, which is commonly referred to as Plant Vogtle.
In settling the case, JEA acknowledged the contract is “valid and enforceable.”…….
Earlier this week JEA’s board unanimously agreed to have JEA’s legal team attempt to reach a settlement….. https://news.wjct.org/post/jea-settles-litigation-over-nuclear-plant-vogtle
That followed a U.S. District judge’s June ruling against JEA in the lawsuit, saying the contract Jacksonville’s utility set up for the nuclear power plant is still valid.
Following the nuclear scandal An Ohio resident has filed a class action lawsuit against FirstEnergy
Ratepayer files class action suit against FirstEnergy amid nuclear plant bailout scandal https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-energy-lawsuit/ratepayer-files-class-action-suit-against-firstenergy-amid-nuclear-plant-bailout-scandal-idUSL2N2F000N Sebastien Malo, 29 Jul 20,
An Ohio resident has filed a class action lawsuit against FirstEnergy Corp and one of its former subsidiaries, claiming that the electric utilities should pay damages for conspiring with the state’s former House speaker, who was federally charged with conspiring to bail out two of the subsidiary’s nuclear power plants in exchange for $60 million in bribes.
Jacob Smith filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act civil lawsuit against FirstEnergy Corp and First Energy Service Company on Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, claiming that tens of thousands of customers were like him wrongly charged on their electricity bills to subsidize the survival of the failing power plant under a law championed by the disgraced politician.
Investigation into several Ohio nuclear bailout bills
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Federal investigators seek records for nuclear bills introduced before Larry Householder became Ohio House speaker, By Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com, 27 Jul 20, COLUMBUS, Ohio — Federal investigators are eyeing several nuclear bailout bills, including House Bill 6 but also three previous iterations introduced before Larry Householder became Ohio House speaker.
A federal subpoena, obtained via a public-records request, seeks records related to four nuclear bailout bills. One is 2019′s HB6, which ultimately passed that year through what federal prosecutors have described as an elaborate corruption scheme funded by $60 million in FirstEnergy bribes. Three bills introduced in 2017 failed to progress significantly in the legislative process. Two of the 2017 bills, House Bills 178 and 381, were sponsored by state Rep. Anthony DeVitis, a Republican from suburban Akron, near FirstEnergy’s corporate headquarters. One, Senate Bill 128, was co-sponsored by Sen. John Eklund, a Geauga County Republican and then-Sen. Frank LaRose, a Hudson Republican who is now Ohio Secretary of State. None of the bills’ sponsors have been accused of wrongdoing……. All four bills sought to subsidize two Ohio nuclear plants owned by a former FirstEnergy subsidiary by tacking fees onto electricity customers’ bills. Previous versions of the bill failed to advance until Householder was elected speaker, with heavy financial backing by FirstEnergy, in January 2019. The final version of HB6 raised more than $1 billion, which company officials argued was needed to rescue the financially troubled plants. Federal investigators also are seeking “all documents and items, including communications” related to public records issued to the House referencing or related to Householder. The subpoena is dated July 20, the day before federal agents arrested Householder, his top political aide and three prominent lobbyists who all worked for a political enterprise federal investigators say was led by Householder. Federal agents say FirstEnergy provided $60 million for the enterprise, which first fielded legislative candidates who backed Householder for speaker, then passed HB6 and finally defended it against a repeal effort, in a “corrupt bargain” in return for Householder’s promise to secure the bailout….. www.cleveland.com/open/2020/07/federal-investigators-seek-records-for-nuclear-bills-introduced-before-larry-householder-became-ohio-house-speaker.html |
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Guilty plea by former SCANA executive – who will be a valuable witness to prosecutors in South Carolina nuclear scandal
 Former SCANA executive pleads guilty to fraud charges tied to failed SC nuclear project, Post and Courier By Andrew Brown and Avery G. Wilks abrown@postandcourier.com; awilks@postandcourier.com, Jul 23, 2020 COLUMBIA — Federal prosecutors locked in a valuable witness Thursday who will give them insights and advantages as they continue to bring charges against the leaders of a failed $9 billion nuclear expansion project in South Carolina.
Steve Byrne, the former vice president of Cayce-based SCANA Corp., pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding electric customers and lying about construction progress as the company tried to build two nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Fairfield County. The guilty plea requires Byrne, 60, to cooperate with federal prosecutors who have spent three years investigating the project’s sudden abandonment in July 2017. The construction failure cost South Carolina electric ratepayers billions of dollars in higher power bills. SCANA’s shareholders also suffered huge losses when the company’s stock value tanked. The company was ultimately sold at a bargain price to Virginia-based Dominion Energy. On Thursday, Byrne admitted to falsely telling regulators, investors and the public the project was on track in order to win rate hikes on customers and keep the venture going while failing to raise alarms about critical flaws that were dooming the expansion effort. By pleading guilty, Byrne is hoping to avoid a stiffer sentence. The fraud charges he pleaded to can still carry up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release afterward. He could also be required to forfeit up to $1 million in pay and bonuses tied to his performance when he oversaw the V.C. Summer venture. For now, Byrne will remain out of jail. A federal magistrate released him on $25,000 bail and required Byrne, who owns a home on the Isle of Palms, to surrender his passport. He will need permission from federal parole officials to leave the state for consulting work or special occasions. U.S. Magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges said she was providing leniency because it could take years for a judge to issue Byrne’s sentence, which will come at the end of a federal investigation targeting other SCANA officials……. Byrne will have more to say as the V.C. Summer investigation progresses. SCANA’s former No. 2 official is expected to be a star witness in future trials or grand jury proceedings involving other officials who oversaw the project. |
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Settlement for ratepayers over failed VC Summer nuclear project
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COLUMBIA — Santee Cooper on Monday received final approval for a $520 million legal settlement with its customers over its failure to complete an expansion of the V.C. Summer nuclear plant in Fairfield County. The deal, approved by former S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal, ends a standoff over how much customers must pay for that unfinished power plant, a project abandoned by Santee Cooper in July 2017 after years of escalating costs and construction delays. The settlement also greatly diminishes the chance Santee Cooper could be sold by lawmakers after the $9 billion nuclear debacle — one of the greatest business failures in state history. It puts refunds into the pockets of customers who have paid higher power bills for the V.C. Summer project, as well as substantial fees for the attorneys who argued the case against the project’s owners. The deal requires Santee Cooper freeze its electric rates for four years and pay $200 million to its ratepayers, including members of South Carolina’s 20 electric cooperatives who purchase the utility’s power indirectly. The rate freeze, the plaintiff attorneys argued, could be worth up to $510 million to Santee Cooper’s customers on its own. Another $320 million would be supplied by Dominion Energy, the Virginia-based company that last year purchased S.C. Electric & Gas — Santee Cooper’s partner on the nuclear project. The deal requires Santee Cooper freeze its electric rates for four years and pay $200 million to its ratepayers, including members of South Carolina’s 20 electric cooperatives who purchase the utility’s power indirectly. The rate freeze, the plaintiff attorneys argued, could be worth up to $510 million to Santee Cooper’s customers on its own. Another $320 million would be supplied by Dominion Energy, the Virginia-based company that last year purchased S.C. Electric & Gas — Santee Cooper’s partner on the nuclear project. |
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Julian Assange’s father calls on Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison to help this Australian citizen
Assange’s father calls extradition process ‘disgrace’ https://telanganatoday.com/assanges-father-calls-extradition-process-disgrace?fbclid=IwAR1a7bQ0W_Xcgc9EIeGaAHVP7Zmm2cM6nNV65ZXtkhCwNUlarqIYTJVw6xo1 July 20, The 80-year-old is organizing public events in Australia despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and hopes to travel to London in August to support Assange during his extradition trial.
Sydney: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s father, John Shipton, is fighting tirelessly for the release and return of his son, who is facing an extradition trial in London for publishing classified information, a process he described as abuse.
“We maintain that the extradition request is a fraud in the English court… It’s a fraud in the English legal system, it’s a case of abuse of process, it is a disgrace,” Shipton, who travelled from Melbourne to Sydney to campaign for his son’s release, told Efe news in an interview.
The 80-year-old is organizing public events in Australia despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and hopes to travel to London in August to support Assange during his extradition trial which, he says, is being carried out under “dire” circumstances.
In May 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, said, after visiting Assange in the Belmarsh prison along with two medical experts, that he showed “all symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture, including extreme stress, chronic anxiety and intense psychological trauma”.
Assange has spent almost a decade in confinement, first under house arrest in a British town and then at the Ecuadorian embassy in London between 2012 until 2019, when Ecuador withdrew his political asylum status.
Shipton has urged the Australian government to mediate with the UK administration for the release of his son, who is wanted in the US on 18 charges of espionage and computer intrusion, for which he could be sentenced to prison for up to 175 years.
“I believe the government can, if it wishes to, assist us in bringing Julian home. I believe that (it) is very simple for the Prime Minister (Scott Morrison) to pick up the phone and ring (his UK counterpart) Boris Johnson and say Julian Assange is an Australian citizen in dire circumstances.
“This will resolve this immediately and that’s easily possible,” he told Efe news during the interview.
Temporary Injunction Slows Holtec’s Work at Closed Nuclear Plant
Temporary Injunction Slows Holtec’s Work at Closed Nuclear Plant, By STEPHANIE A. FAUGHNAN, June 29, 2020 LACEY, NJ – Holtec’s decommissioning work of the former Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant has slowed down since the beginning of this month in compliance with a court-ordered mandate. Ocean County Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson, Jr.’s imposition of temporary restraints on Holtec, puts a temporary hold on work – other than that permitted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Attorneys for the Township of Lacey filed the court application requesting judicial intervention, citing what it calls Holtec’s refusal to obtain necessary permits or approvals from the municipality.
The Verified Complaint filed by Jerry J. Dasti, of Dasti, Murphy. McGucklin, Ulaky, Koutsouris & Murphy incorporated a letter the firm sent to Holtec’s legal counsel. An excerpt accuses Holtec of already initiating the process of “building structures into the ground, by excavating a substantial area, which presumably will thereafter house the spent fuel rods.”…….
LACEY, NJ – Holtec’s decommissioning work of the former Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant has slowed down since the beginning of this month in compliance with a court-ordered mandate. Ocean County Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson, Jr.’s imposition of temporary restraints on Holtec, puts a temporary hold on work – other than that permitted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Attorneys for the Township of Lacey filed the court application requesting judicial intervention, citing what it calls Holtec’s refusal to obtain necessary permits or approvals from the municipality.
The Verified Complaint filed by Jerry J. Dasti, of Dasti, Murphy. McGucklin, Ulaky, Koutsouris & Murphy incorporated a letter the firm sent to Holtec’s legal counsel. An excerpt accuses Holtec of already initiating the process of “building structures into the ground, by excavating a substantial area, which presumably will thereafter house the spent fuel rods.”…….. https://www.tapinto.net/towns/barnegat-slash-waretown/sections/government/articles/temporary-injunction-slows-holtec-s-work-at-closed-nuclear-plant
USA adds a new indictment to its charges against Julian Assange
WikiLeaks founder Assange faces new indictment in US, By ERIC TUCKER, 29 June 20, WASHINGTON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sought to recruit hackers at conferences in Europe and Asia who could provide his anti-secrecy website with classified information, and conspired with members of hacking organizations, according to a new Justice Department indictment announced Wednesday.The superseding indictment does not contain additional charges beyond the 18 counts the Justice Department unsealed last year. But prosecutors say it underscores Assange’s efforts to procure and release classified information, allegations that form the basis of criminal charges he already faces.
Beyond recruiting hackers at conferences, the indictment accuses Assange of conspiring with members of hacking groups known as LulzSec and Anonymous. He also worked with a 17-year-old hacker who gave him information stolen from a bank and directed the teenager to steal additional material, including audio recordings of high-ranking government officials, prosecutors say.
Assange’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said in a statement that “the government’s relentless pursuit of Julian Assange poses a grave threat to journalists everywhere and to the public’s right to know.”
“While today’s superseding indictment is yet another chapter in the U.S. Government’s effort to persuade the public that its pursuit of Julian Assange is based on something other than his publication of newsworthy truthful information,” he added, “the indictment continues to charge him with violating the Espionage Act based on WikiLeaks publications exposing war crimes committed by the U.S. Government.”
Assange was arrested last year after being evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had sought refuge to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault, and is at the center of an extradition tussle over whether he should be sent to the United States.
The Justice Department has already charged him with conspiring with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history by working together to crack a password to a government computer.
Prosecutors say the WikiLeaks founder damaged national security by publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents, including diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that harmed the U.S. and its allies and aided its adversaries.
Assange maintains he was acting as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection. His lawyers have argued the U.S. charges of espionage and computer misuse were politically motivated and an abuse of power.
Assange generated substantial attention during the 2016 presidential election, and in investigations that followed, after WikiLeaks published stolen Democratic emails that U.S. authorities say were hacked by Russian military intelligence officials. An investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller revealed how Trump campaign associates eagerly anticipated the email disclosures. One Trump ally, Roger Stone, was found guilty last year of lying about his efforts to gain inside information about the emails. Assange, however, was never charged in Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The allegations in the new indictment center on conferences, in locations including the Netherlands and Malaysia in 2009, at which prosecutors say he and a WikiLeaks associate sought to recruit hackers who could locate classified information, including material on a “Most Wanted Leaks” list posted on WikiLeaks’ website.
According to the new indictment, he told would-be recruits that unless they were a member of the U.S. military, they faced no legal liability for stealing classified information and giving it to WikiLeaks “because ‘TOP SECRET’ meant nothing as a matter of law.”
At one conference in Malaysia, called the “Hack in the Box Security Conference,” Assange told the audience, “I was a famous teenage hacker in Australia, and I’ve been reading generals’ emails since I was 17.”
USA adds new indictment to charges against Julian Assange
WASHINGTON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sought to recruit hackers at conferences in Europe and Asia who could provide his anti-secrecy website with classified information, and conspired with members of hacking organizations, according to a new Justice Department indictment announced Wednesday.
The superseding indictment does not contain additional charges beyond the 18 counts the Justice Department unsealed last year. But prosecutors say it underscores Assange’s efforts to procure and release classified information, allegations that form the basis of criminal charges he already faces.
Beyond recruiting hackers at conferences, the indictment accuses Assange of conspiring with members of hacking groups known as LulzSec and Anonymous. He also worked with a 17-year-old hacker who gave him information stolen from a bank and directed the teenager to steal additional material, including audio recordings of high-ranking government officials, prosecutors say.
Assange’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said in a statement that “the government’s relentless pursuit of Julian Assange poses a grave threat to journalists everywhere and to the public’s right to know.”
“While today’s superseding indictment is yet another chapter in the U.S. Government’s effort to persuade the public that its pursuit of Julian Assange is based on something other than his publication of newsworthy truthful information,” he added, “the indictment continues to charge him with violating the Espionage Act based on WikiLeaks publications exposing war crimes committed by the U.S. Government.”
Assange was arrested last year after being evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had sought refuge to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault, and is at the center of an extradition tussle over whether he should be sent to the United States.
The Justice Department has already charged him with conspiring with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history by working together to crack a password to a government computer.
Prosecutors say the WikiLeaks founder damaged national security by publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents, including diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that harmed the U.S. and its allies and aided its adversaries.
Assange maintains he was acting as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection. His lawyers have argued the U.S. charges of espionage and computer misuse were politically motivated and an abuse of power.
Assange generated substantial attention during the 2016 presidential election, and in investigations that followed, after WikiLeaks published stolen Democratic emails that U.S. authorities say were hacked by Russian military intelligence officials. An investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller revealed how Trump campaign associates eagerly anticipated the email disclosures. One Trump ally, Roger Stone, was found guilty last year of lying about his efforts to gain inside information about the emails. Assange, however, was never charged in Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The allegations in the new indictment center on conferences, in locations including the Netherlands and Malaysia in 2009, at which prosecutors say he and a WikiLeaks associate sought to recruit hackers who could locate classified information, including material on a “Most Wanted Leaks” list posted on WikiLeaks’ website.
According to the new indictment, he told would-be recruits that unless they were a member of the U.S. military, they faced no legal liability for stealing classified information and giving it to WikiLeaks “because ‘TOP SECRET’ meant nothing as a matter of law.”
At one conference in Malaysia, called the “Hack in the Box Security Conference,” Assange told the audience, “I was a famous teenage hacker in Australia, and I’ve been reading generals’ emails since I was 17.”
LAWSUIT ALLEGES COVERUP AT US NUCLEAR WEAPON FACILITY
Nuclear Coverup
A physicist who was fired by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is suing over an alleged coverup that he claims could have compromised the U.S.’s ability to predict the behavior of nuclear weapons.
Peter Williams, the plaintiff, claims in the lawsuit that he was terminated in retaliation after complaining that his superiors tinkered with his models of nuclear weapon explosions, Science Magazine reports. In doing so, Williams alleges, his superiors were trying to make data align with the models rather than improving their accuracy — leaving the U.S. clueless as to how the weapons would actually behave when actually detonated.
Difficult Math
While he was at Livermore, Williams modeled the behavior of an explosive called a PBX 9502. When equipped to a nuclear warhead, the explosive first triggers a nuclear fission explosion that, in turn, sets off an even more powerful fusion blast, Science reports.
It’s a particularly-difficult dynamic to model, especially because the PBX 9502 is relatively slow-burning, and models also need to account for how the explosion travels through the sample of PBX.
Routine Maintenance
Williams’ central allegation, Science reports, is that supervisors would adjust the parameters of tests after the fact to make the models seem more accurate than they were — rendering them incapable of making meaningful predictions.
But astrophysicist Robert Rosner, a Livermore board member, told Science that modeling adjustments of that sort are commonplace and an expected part of improving them. Still, Williams sees his lawsuit as a matter of duty.
“I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I didn’t do it,” he told Science.
Environmental problems, and legal holdup for Russia’s $20 billion nuclear power project in Turkey
Russia’s $20 billion nuclear power project located in Mersin on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast has long come under fire over safety and environmental concerns, including claims of large cracks in the concrete foundations due to loose and unstable ground in the area.
Officials broke ground on the Akkuyu power plant in 2018, which is set to be Turkey’s first nuclear power station and is due to come online in 2023 – the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey.
But engineers and workers began ringing alarm bells over a potential nuclear disaster soon after its inception, and a group of NGOs filed a lawsuit with a Turkish court demanding for construction to be halted…….
A Turkish court in the southern province of Mersin ruled on Friday to accept a request by the NGOs for relevant ministries and the National Security Council (MGK) to be able to intervene in the project, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported.
The court said the case would be reported to the MGK, which has no obligation to intervene in construction, but may now choose to do so. Lawyers involved in the case hd also said that the Russian power power plant could pose a national security threat to Turkey.
The court also gave the green light to a request by the NGOs for the involvement of a number of Turkish ministries in the case, including the Health Ministry, the Treasury and Finance Ministry, as well as the Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry.
How this latest development will play out in the ambitious Russian-Turkish joint-venture remains to be seen. But it arrives at a time of ongoing tensions between Ankara and Moscow over Idlib province in northwest Syria, where the two countries back opposing sides……https://ahvalnews.com/nuclear-energy/turkeys-russian-nuclear-power-project-hits-legal-hurdle
Covid-19 pandemic being used to prevent proper public consultation on Bradwell nuclear project
Ecologist 17th June 2020, Bradwell B, a proposed nuclear power plant, appears to be moving forward to its construction phase during the Covid-19 pandemic without proper public consultation.
China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), a Chinese state-owned energy corporation, and Électricité de France (EDF), are seeking to build a new nuclear power plant in Bradwell-on-Sea, opposite Blackwater Estuary Natural Nature Reserve on the Essex coast. A statement released by JAN (Japanese Against Nuclear) UK stated: “The companies cancelled two-thirds of the planned public consultation events due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But the pandemic should not be used to avoid the legal requirement of public engagement.
Massachusetts officials have dropped a lawsuit against Holtec over $1B Nuclear cleanup
Holtec Settles Legal Battle with Massachusetts Over $1B Nuclear Plant Cleanup, ENR, 19 June 20, Massachusetts officials have dropped a lawsuit against Holtec International, now site owner and intended cleanup manager of the closed Pilgrim Nuclear Plant near Plymouth that allows the $1.13 billion-decontamination and decommissioning of the 670-MW site to move forward to be completed in 2027.
The state also dropped its challenge to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s transfer of the site operating license from Entergy Nuclear to Holtec.
Under the agreement reached June 16, Holtec will set aside $193 million of the plant’s decommission trust fund to pay for cost increases, project delays and possible hidden contamination.
Once cleanup is competed, $38.8 million will be set aside to cover the cost to transport spent nuclear fuel stored at the site to out-of-state storage. ….. https://www.enr.com/articles/49588-holtec-settles-legal-battle-with-massachusetts-over-1b-nuclear-plant-cleanup
South Carolina Electric and Gas lawyers and executives could face gaol for fraud
SCE&G LAWYERS MAY BE CHARGED IN NUCLEAR FRAUD, https://www.lexingtonchronicle.com/news/sceg-lawyers-may-be-charged-nuclear-fraud More utility executives may face prison time, too
By Jerry Bellune
JerryBellune@yahoo.com
Former SC Electric & Gas executive Steve Byrne may have company.
His plea agreement on fraud charges reveals that other executives and lawyers for SCANA, the owner of SCE&G, are at risk of being charged,.
Federal officials believe a conspiracy of executives and their lawyers hid a $9 billion nuclear failure from state officials, investors and the public for years.
An official federal document filed in US District Court in Columbia revealed:
• Byrne and unidentified “others” orchestrated a cover-up of costly errors at the nuclear construction site.
• They “deceived regulators and customers to maintain financing for the project and to financially benefit SCANA” and themselves.
• “As construction problems mounted, costs rose and schedules slipped,” Byrne and others hid the truth.
For the rest of what the federal documents reveal, see Thursday’s Lexington County Chronicle.
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