In Washington and Columbia, there’s lots of talk these days about a so-called “nuclear renaissance,” a potential revival of the nuclear power industry.
Last year, Georgia Power brought two, new reactors online at a site near Augusta. They were the first new units built in this country in more than 30 years.
Safety concerns and the exorbitant cost to construct reactors have chilled the industry for decades.
But the growing demand for electricity fueled by population growth — in addition to the power demands of AI systems, the reliability of nuclear power, and the fact that it is the largest source of clean power in the country — is leading to its anticipated comeback.
Gov. Henry McMaster recently compared South Carolina’s position in leading the way for a nuclear revival to the car in the poll position for the start of the Darlington 500 Race.
“The green flag is going down, the motors going way up, and ladies and gentlemen South Carolina is in the lead in the country for a renaissance of nuclear power,” he said.
The state’s newly-enacted energy law — the S.C. Energy Security Act — states that it is now the policy of the state to advance the development of more nuclear energy.
The initial focus of McMaster and other state leaders is an attempt to bring the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project back to life.
State-owned utility Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy attempted to build two, new reactors at the site in Fairfield County. The project collapsed in 2017, leaving the two utilities with a $9 billion debt.
Santee Cooper maintains control of the partially-built facilities. With large private entities across the country interested in getting into the generation business to provide power for large users, it issued a proposal request to gauge interest for a possible buyer.
Santee Cooper CEO Jimmy Staton said more than 50 groups or consortiums have expressed interest.
“The folks that have participated (in the process) are very quality organizations,” Staton said recently.
“So that gives us a little bit of optimism, but I never want to say that something this massive is a given,” he added
Staton said Santee Cooper hopes to narrow down a handful of interested parties to be considered by late summer.
State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, has been a strong advocate for privatizing the project.
Davis said such a move could prove beneficial to Santee Cooper and Dominion ratepayers who continue to pay for the failed project.
“Not only would we be generating over 2,000 megawatts of clean power, but you can get that sunk cost off of the ratepayers for Dominion and Santee Cooper and lower their rates,” according to Davis.
The two AP1000 Westinghouse reactors at the V.C. Summer site are less than 50% complete. And the original licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have been canceled.
Longtime nuclear watchdog Tom Clements of Columbia said the recent easing of licensing requirements by federal and state regulators to encourage nuclear expansion is concerning from a safety standpoint.
“I have no doubt that the NRC is going to try and grease the skids, and try and make them a new license much easier than if they had to start from scratch,” Clements said. “I think they (a future operator) need to jump through the same hoops for safety reasons to show the public that the project would be safe.”
There are currently seven commercial nuclear reactors in South Carolina.
Six are operated by Duke Energy and one is run by Dominion.
Duke Energy South Carolina President Tim Pearson said recently that additional nuclear generation is “in our future.”
Duke has already received an NRC license for the future construction of a new nuclear station in Cherokee County along the Broad River.
