The specter of the V.C. Summer and Alvin W. Vogtle plants loomed over recent meetings to review a related nuclear project in Florida, for which construction hasn't started.

Florida regulators met Aug. 15 and 16 for their annual nuclear cost recovery hearings, which focused on the plans of Florida Power & Light Co., or FPL, to expand its Turkey Point facility. The NextEra Energy Inc. subsidiary said the total, all-inclusive cost of building two new reactors could cost as much as $21.87 billion, and units 6 and 7 could go online in 2031 and 2032, respectively.

Skeptics of the project say that high price tag is reminiscent of Summer, where the expansion was recently abandoned by two South Carolina utilities after they revealed the total cost would be at least $25 billion. The CEO of Southern Co., Vogtle's majority owner, dismissed Summer-Vogtle comparisons on a recent earnings call, saying the plants are "apples and oranges." Georgia regulators expect a decision by the end of August on whether Southern subsidiary Georgia Power Co. will recommend proceeding with completion.

The Summer, Vogtle and Turkey Point projects have all used the bankrupt Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC's AP1000 reactor design, and FPL's facility was seen as part of the "second wave" of Westinghouse work.

Cost overruns and in-service delays at Summer and Vogtle are key factors why FPL put a self-described "pause" on Turkey Point. The halt "will allow these first wave projects to complete and help us to assess how their experience could translate to the Turkey Point Units ... before we move forward with a petition for approval to proceed to preconstruction work," FPL Senior Director of Project Development Steven Scroggs wrote in prefiled testimony to the Florida Public Service Commission.

"Where FPL stands today with respect to its new project is in stark contrast to where other new nuclear projects stand. And that is by design," FPL attorney Jessica Cano told commissioners. She and Scroggs emphasized FPL's "stepwise approach" to the Turkey Point expansion.

FPL is asking the PSC to rule on whether the utility's decision to continue pursuing a combined operating license, or COL, from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reasonable and whether FPL's request to defer cost recovery at Turkey Point should be approved. The PSC is expected to vote on the requests at an Oct. 17 meeting.

FPL spent $38 million in 2015 and 2016 in pursuit of a COL and related permits. This year, the utility is not seeking to recover its 2017 COL investments as part of its Turkey Point pause. The NRC is scheduled to hold an Oct. 5 hearing on FPL's application.

Scroggs said that once granted, the COL will provide FPL a 20-year window to work at Turkey Point. Some stakeholders suggested the utility's pause of at least "four to six years," as Scroggs said, could be conflated with the COL's eligibility, thus further dragging out the project timeline and increasing what they see as speculative risk.

To make matters worse, skeptics say, FPL for the past two years has not filed feasibility studies for the Turkey Point expansion, which they argue are required under Florida law. The utility contends that annual studies are "not necessary," as a long-term analysis would not have any bearing on the near-term work of pursuing a COL.

"It's not appropriate to order customers to pay cost, respectfully, if you're having to fly blind and don't have sufficient information in front of you to make a judgment as to whether this is feasible or not," Florida Industrial Power Users Group attorney Jon Moyle said at the Aug. 15 hearing.

A member of the PSC agreed, with Commissioner Donald Polmann telling Scroggs that "what concerns me is that as a commission, we're sitting here today without all the information that I believe is appropriate to make the decision."

Next steps

During several hours of cross-examination by intervenors, Scroggs maintained that FPL needs to observe and learn more from the Summer and Vogtle episodes to develop an accurate feasibility study.

"The first step is complete the license, and then look with the best information you have available at what the cost and likelihood of success would be before you move into the preconstruction period," Scroggs said. "So we would need a good understanding of what were the issues in the first-wave projects that caused them to exceed their initial cost estimates."

"Are those issues manageable or mitigatable by other actions or other contract arrangements? What is the updated material, labor, cost and schedule construction estimates put together, and specialized for Turkey Point's unique project-specific items?" he continued. "Let's put that into the economic analysis."

Someone from FPL's Turkey Point expansion team has visited Summer and Vogtle "at least once or twice a year," he said, adding that Scroggs and others often talk with their counterparts at the companies that own and operate the South Carolina and Georgia plants.

But Scroggs also revealed that as of June, he had not spoken with anyone at Westinghouse on whether the Toshiba Corp. subsidiary would continue to maintain its engineering, procurement and construction role at Turkey Point. He also disclosed that FPL does not have contracts to construct the new units according to the current project budget range of $14.96 billion to $21.87 billion.

"The straight answer is we don't know" what impact Westinghouse's bankruptcy will have on the project and on consumers, Scroggs said. "We think that there's an opportunity for Westinghouse to emerge from bankruptcy, either independently or with support of another party, and that means [the AP1000] design can still be a viable design in the future."

Westinghouse is supporting FPL during its COL effort, Scroggs said, and a contract for "engineering support" is in place. He declined to describe any of the contracts' specific terms beyond receipt of the COL but said it does not terminate upon licensing.

Florida Retail Federation attorney Schef Wright said at the Aug. 15 hearing that "the prospects for building a nuclear power plant based on a technology developed by a bankrupt company is bleak at best." And George Cavros, attorney at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, went even further, declaring that "as we sit here today, at this moment, this project is effectively dead."

Scroggs also admitted that there is "nothing" that would preclude FPL from filing a feasibility study right now but added that he would not want the PSC to rely on it, which is why the utility did not file an analysis last year, nor plans to do so this year.

"We're not trying to make it more complicated," Scroggs said of the Turkey Point process.