Nuclear reactor assemblies pictured Sept. 12, 2024, in storage at VC Summer nuclear site near Fairfield. (Provided by S.C. Nuclear Advisory Council)
COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s state-owned utility is putting a pair of partially built nuclear reactors on the market.
Santee Cooper announced Wednesday that it would solicit proposals from potential buyers of the two units, located at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station, that were mothballed more than seven years ago as part of a failed nuclear power expansion project.
The power company’s decision to test the waters comes amid a national nuclear resurgence and growing calls from state political leaders to revisit the project in an effort to meet South Carolina’s growing power needs.
“We are seeing renewed interest in nuclear energy, fueled by advanced manufacturing investments, AI-driven data center demand, and the tech industry’s zero-carbon targets,” CEO Jimmy Staton said in a statement.
“Considering the long timelines required to bring new nuclear units online, Santee Cooper has a unique opportunity to explore options for Summer Units 2 and 3 and their related assets that could allow someone to generate reliable, carbon emissions-free electricity on a meaningfully shortened timeline,” he continued.
The utility is marketing the project as “the only site in the U.S. that could deliver 2,200 (megawatts) of nuclear capacity on an accelerated timeline.”
A single megawatt is enough to power between 400 and 900 homes in a year, according to federal estimates.
But major data centers, which are popping up around the Palmetto State, have needs of about 200 megawatts each. And Dominion Energy executives expect about 700 megawatts’ worth of future demand from manufacturers in the state.
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Santee Cooper’s announcement touts the site as coming with “access to ample land, water and transmission infrastructure upgrades” to accommodate the units.
The state-owned utility and now defunct South Carolina Electric & Gas were partners on the V.C. Summer expansion, which was a first-of-its-kind design. It marked the first new nuclear construction in the country in 40 years.
But with costs way over budget and completion years behind schedule, the companies abandoned the effort in July 2017 — after jointly spending $9 billion.
It left South Carolina customers of Dominion, which bought out SCANA in the aftermath, on the hook for more than $2 billion for reactors that never generated power. Santee Cooper’s share of the debt was $3.6 billion.
Both Santee Cooper and Dominion executives have long said they have no desire to build, own or operate the units. But the only way to determine if there’s outside interest in taking on the project is to put it up for grabs.
Santee Cooper and the former lead contractor on the project, Westinghouse, hold joint ownership of all nuclear-related parts on the site. The two have jointly marketed the parts and will share any proceeds from a sale.
Meanwhile, Santee Cooper shares ownership of the land with Dominion, meaning any potential buyer would have to make the deal with multiple entities.
Those interested have until May 5 to submit a proposal.
Growing interest
Members of the governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council floated the idea of reviving the project at a meeting in October 2024 after two of them made a trip the month before to see the abandoned reactors and parts left on site in rural Fairfield County.
It could be the answer, Chairman Rick Lee said at the time, to South Carolina’s possible power shortage as the state’s population balloons, industries expand, and federal environmental regulations mandate the closure of coal-fired power.
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Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, filed legislation ahead of the regular session calling for Santee Cooper to open the potential project up for bids. A bipartisan group of 26 other Senators signed on to the bill.
And U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters Tuesday the United States “cannot give up on nuclear.” South Carolina Public Radio reported Graham was mostly interested in a still-developing nuclear technology, known as small modular reactors, but he was not willing to write off the V.C. Summer site.
“It was a disaster trying to build these two new nuclear power plants,” said the South Carolina Republican. “But, yes, I would be open to trying to revitalize that. Trust me, South Carolina needs as much power as we can get.”
Many also have pointed to previously shuttered nuclear plants being revitalized across the country.
Watts Bar in Tennessee was fired back up more than 25 years after the project was ceased.
And the remaining unit at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, where a second unit suffered its notorious partial meltdown in 1979, is under consideration for a restart to power a Microsoft data center.
And the four-unit Vogtle power plant in Georgia, which was built with the same design and started construction in unison with V.C. Summer, is now operational. However, it came online seven years late at a cost of $35 billion — more than double the initial $14 billion estimate.