The unfinished Unit 2 nuclear reactor pictured Sept. 12, 2024, at VC Summer nuclear site near Fairfield. (Provided by S.C. Nuclear Advisory Council)
COLUMBIA — A former top executive at SCANA won’t go to prison after all for helping perpetuate a doomed nuclear power project that cost South Carolinians billions. A federal judge reduced his sentence Thursday.
Stephen Byrne, the company’s chief operating officer during the debacle, pleaded guilty in July 2020 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud for lying to state regulators in 2016 about the project being ready to complete on time, despite knowing it was delayed and over budget.
He was sentenced in 2023 to 15 months in prison but never served any time, as prosecutors prepared to use his testimony against other people charged for their roles in the V.C. Summer plant failure. Ultimately, however, Byrne never testified.
Instead of 15 months in prison, Byrne will spend 15 months in home detention to start his three years of probation, U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis ordered Thursday.
While on home detention, Byrne will not be allowed to leave his house except to go to work, church, court hearings, doctor’s appointments and other pre-approved outings, according to the ruling.
He will still have to pay the $200,000 fine and $1 million in restitution ordered in 2023, the order continues.
“This sentence fairly recognizes the substantial assistance Byrne provided before and after sentencing, as well as the cost of his cooperation, and is sufficient but no longer than necessary to promote respect for the law, provide adequate deterrence, and reflect the seriousness of his offense,” Lewis wrote.
Part of Byrne’s plea deal stipulated that he would cooperate with the government’s investigators, which he did by sitting for about a dozen interviews and preparing to testify at hearings for the other men charged, attorneys for the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in a motion to reduce his sentence.
His careful note-taking during meetings with other executives and project contractor Westinghouse shaved years off the investigation, The Associated Press reported prosecutors said during his sentencing hearing.
Final executive punished for VC Summer failure to spend at least 10 months in prison
“At all times, Byrne has been forthright, level-headed, and candid, and he would have played an invaluable role had his testimony been necessary,” prosecutors wrote in their motion to reduce his sentence.
All three of the other executives charged for their roles signed guilty pleas of their own, meaning Byrne did not have to take the stand during a trial. But his cooperation still helped prosecutors build those cases and negotiate plea deals, Lewis wrote.
She had to balance that with the severity of his crime, which “deceived regulators and customers to maintain financing for the V.C. Summer project and to financially benefit SCANA,” Lewis wrote.
His actions were estimated to have cost ratepayers more than $64 million, after his deceit led to a 2016 rate hike to fund the project. For that reason, she declined Byrne’s attorneys’ request for him to serve six months of probation, she wrote.
“Indeed, Byrne’s misrepresentations, along with those of his conspirators, allowed the project to continue, ultimately culminating in billions of dollars in total loss,” the order reads.
SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh spent two years in federal prison for his involvement, of which he served 17 months.
Jeff Benjamin, a top executive for Westinghouse Electric Co., was sentenced in November to one year in prison, though he will be eligible for parole after 10 months.
Carl Churchman, who worked as head of the V.C. Summer project under Benjamin, received six months of home detention after pleading guilty to lying to an FBI agent on the case.
South Carolina Electric & Gas, a subsidiary of SCANA, and state-owned utility Santee Cooper, were partners in the nuclear plant expansion but abandoned the project in July 2017 after collectively spending $9 billion.
Virginia-based Dominion Energy bought out SCANA, but its South Carolina customers are still paying off more than $2 billion spent for reactors that never generated power.
Jessica Holdman contributed to this report.