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“After spending more than $9 billion since 2009 on the mismanaged project, the construction of which is only 37% complete,…” (Tom Clements, FOE-SRS Watch).[1] The reactor construction project was at least 5 years behind schedule.[2]

“Photo of VC Summer site, May 26, 2017, ©High Flyer, more photos, which can be used with credit, posted at” [3]

News Release from Friends of the Earth:
“South Carolina Bungled Nuclear Reactor Construction Project Canceled
Posted Jul. 31, 2017 / Posted by: Audrey Fox
Next Step: Who will be Held Accountable and When will Ratepayers Receive Refunds? COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) today announced that it will cease construction of the two new nuclear units at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station

In response to the announcement, Tom Clements, Senior Advisor at Friends of the Earth issued the following statement:
The decision to abandon the V.C. Summer project is of monumental proportion and is a full admission that pursuit of the project was a fool’s mission right from the start. The damage that this bungled project has caused to ratepayers and the state’s economy must be promptly addressed by SCE&G, Santee Cooper and regulators and all effort must be made to minimize that damage. SCE&G and Santee Cooper must now take on a large part of the project’s cost.

To reduce the on-going blow to SCE&G ratepayers already paying 18% of the bill just to pay for project financing, it’s time for money to be refunded as it was collected from them under the false pretense that advance payment for the nuclear project was sound. In proceedings before the South Carolina Public Service Commission, we pledge to be a steward of the public interest and to determine who must be held accountable for this boondoggle and to fight for monetary reparations to customers.

Warnings about potential problems with the project were raised in 2008 and repeatedly since then by Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club but they were blindly ignored by both SCE&G and Santee Cooper as well as regulators. There was ample warning about the pitfalls that the project would face so it appears that regulators may have simply bowed to the will of SCE&G and rubber stamped decisions at every step of the way without proper review. Regulators have so far not attempted to make a case that they provided proper oversight and the pressure is now on them to explain their actions that have led to this debacle.

Agencies charged with looking out for the public interest – the S.C. Public Service Commission and the Office of Regulatory Staff – failed the citizens of the state by not performing due diligence of the unsubstantiated claims made by SCE&G about the project’s cost, schedule and ease of construction. It was evident from the start that cost overrun, schedule delays and problems with an untested construction method were fraught with problems. Though the handwriting has been on the wall for years cost overruns and construction challenges never received proper review until the project was on the brink of failure.

Rather than applauding the decision this is a time for reflection and to prepare for formal proceedings before the PSC that will review how this debacle happened and how to refund ratepayers money due to a string of imprudent decisions.

Friends of the Earth will be present at the South Carolina Public Service Commission at 10:00 a.m. on August 1, when SCE&G briefs the PSC about its parallel decision to abandon the project.” Emphasis our own. Original here: http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2017-07-south-carolina-bungled-nuclear-reactor-construction-canceled

See more at http://www.srswatch.org and http://www.foe.org

Note 1: http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/urgent_attend_meeting_on_fate_of_sce_g_reactor_project_july_30_2017.pdf
Note 2:
“Santee Cooper, the junior partner in the reactor project with a 45 percent share, said shelving the project would save its customers nearly $7 billion in additional costs to complete it, which would have pushed the price to $11.4 billion on what was supposed to cost $5.1 billion to begin with. The project is also at least five years behind its original schedule…. with Westinghouse mired in bankruptcy court and its parent Toshiba financially strapped, it isn’t clear whether the AP1000 design will be used again.” (The Washington Post: “S.C. utilities halt work on new nuclear reactors, dimming the prospects for a nuclear energy revival” https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sc-utilities-halt-work-on-new-nuclear-reactors-dimming-the-prospects-for-a-nuclear-energy-revival/2017/07/31/5c8ec4a0-7614-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html
Note 3: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwkyYyn8X-ySTHlYc0pwWDhCTWs