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Report: Santee Cooper in talks to revive VC Summer nuclear project

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Report: Santee Cooper in talks to revive VC Summer nuclear project

Santee Cooper is in talks with a wide range of companies to take the reins on the abandoned V.C. Summer nuclear project.

The utility, known legally as the South Carolina Public Service Authority, is in discussions with several corporations interested in finishing the failed nuclear expansion project, Santee Cooper CEO Mark Bonsall told South Carolina newspaper The State. Bonsall said Santee Cooper would not invest more money or take more risk on if the project is revived.

"For the particular entity that's expressed interest in this, it is feasible [to finish VC Summer]," Bonsall said. "They're huge, they're national ... they're very real people. They're experienced."

While Bonsall did not name any particular companies, The State has reported that Korea Electric Power Corp. is one of the companies interested in taking over the project. The newspaper cited state Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, as saying that Korea Electric Power and a second Korean company are part of a consortium that also includes a U.S. company. By federal law, foreign companies cannot hold majority ownership of a U.S. nuclear plant.

In 2017, Santee Cooper and majority project owner Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc., then known as South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., decided to stop the construction of two new 1,117-MW reactors at V.C. Summer following the bankruptcy of primary contractor Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC. Project costs at that point had reached $14 billion and Santee Cooper estimated that the new reactors would not be finished until 2024, well past its regulatory approved in-service date of Jan. 1, 2021.