South Carolina and Gov. Henry McMaster have long expressed the desire to climb the ranks of nuclear power generation. Multiple Friday morning moves by Santee Cooper, the state-owned electric and water utility provider, have propelled South Carolina a little closer to its goal.
In its Friday morning meeting, the Santee Cooper Board of Directors approved motions to progress work on natural gas and nuclear energy units.
McMaster said the Palmetto State must prepare for a "future driven by nuclear power generation" during his eighth State of the State address in January. And in July, the governor signed an act that made advanced nuclear facility development and operation a state policy.
Dubbed the South Carolina Energy Security Act, it focused on improving the state's energy grid and expanded the Nuclear Advisory Council's role. It also sparked debate about how consumer energy rates would be affected.
Santee Cooper President and CEO Jimmy Staton said the state wants to contribute to President Donald Trump's nuclear reaction construction goal; the president wants 10 large-scale nuclear reactors under construction by 2030.
It means construction on sites in Canadys and Jenkinsville could continue under new partnerships should the deals make it all the way through to completion. Just the Jenkinsville project is nuclear.
Initially approved in 2007, the Fairfield County nuclear site has long been shrouded by controversy. A construction halt in 2017, followed by federal fraud charges and a $9 billion debt left the two V.C. Summer Nuclear Station reactors in limbo.
The project never finished construction, and taxpayers were left paying for the unused nuclear units.
Former project builder Westinghouse Electric declared bankruptcy in 2017 and was acquired in a partnership by Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management. Brookfield's ownership of the former site leader was a factor in selection, Staton said in a release following the board meeting.
A potential revamp in Fairfield County
Now, Santee Cooper has accepted Brookfield's — a global investment firm based in Canada — proposal for the inactive and incomplete nuclear reactors. And the decision will start six weeks of negotiation between the parties. The agreement is expected to be valued in the billions, according to the Wall Street Journal's reporting.
The potential restart would offer 2,200 megawatts of energy in Fairfield County.
Republican State Sen. Tom Davis posted a letter from Santee Cooper to his X, formerly Twitter, account that informed senators about the upcoming project revamp.
Davis, a major legislative force in preserving the nuclear site, said the plants will help propel the "nuclear renaissance" and cover the rising costs of artificial intelligence technology needs.
"We need a new model in place," he said. "I mean, given the enormous power generation needs of companies going forward. It's not fair to have the rest of South Carolinians pay for that."
Santee Cooper said Brookfield tentatively agreed to provide it with a portion of the power generated.
The equipment and structure of the plant will need to be inspected before any future use. Final contracts would have to be looked over extensively and approved by a state legislative committee.
The plan in Colleton County
The utility provider committed to a joint plan with Dominion Energy to build a 2,200 MW natural gas plant in Canadys.
Formerly home to a coal-fired plant, Santee Cooper projects the site will be "one of the most efficient generating plants in the southeastern United States." And it projects to have the station operational by the early 2030s.
As Santee Cooper announced the plan on Friday, environmental groups spoke out against it. Robby Maynor, a climate campaign associate with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the energy production is not worth the created pollutants.
"There really ain't nothing natural about it," he said. "It's a fossil fuel. Burning it to create electricity will create pollution."
A Harvard study commissioned by the Southern Environmental Law Center released Wednesday said the plant would emit more than 164 tons of pollutant particulate matter each year; significant amounts of PM2.5 were expected to be generated.
The pollutant is linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and pneumonia, among other diseases, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
This plan, too, would be subject to broader approval.
Tentative excitement from the state
Santee Cooper executives cited executive orders President Donald Trump signed in May on nuclear energy as factors that allowed the proposal selections.
The United States Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy released a blog post shortly after the orders were signed. The office said quicker nuclear reactor licensing and a ramp up of domestic nuclear fuel production were clear goals.
State utility provider's Staton said the decisions stood as victories for both the state and President Trump's desires.
"It's a heck of a day." he said.
