nuclear power

The challenge is clear: South Carolina’s population and economic sector is growing fast. It's growing so fast that state leaders and utility executives say they are concerned that the need for energy may outpace the utilities’ ability to generate enough electricity to meet demand.

A bill that power companies call vital to keeping the lights on in South Carolina has been turned into a resolution that only expresses support for the idea by the Senate, which wasn't ready to give more latitude to utilities that cost ratepayers billions.

Mike Switzer interviews Jim Little, co-chair of the Southeast Nuclear Advisory Council and an industry representative on our governor’s SC Nuclear Advisory Council.

Mike Switzer interviews Jim Little, co-chair of the Southeast Nuclear Advisory Council and an industry representative on our governor’s SC Nuclear Advisory Council.

“We need power, and we need a lot of it, and we need to take action today," Duke Energy Carolinas President Michael Callahan bluntly told state lawmakers.

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office said Friday afternoon that 66-year-old Doyle Whisenhunt, of Arkansas, who reportedly crashed through a fence fleeing the nuclear station Thursday night, has been charged with attempted murder and other charges.

Federal officials have issued a warning about a substantial safety violation at a South Carolina nuclear plant after cracks were discovered again in a backup emergency fuel line.

Federal officials have granted a factory in South Carolina a license to keep making fuel for nuclear plants for 40 years. The Westinghouse facility in Columbia is just one of three in the country making atomic fuel rods. Environmental groups had fought the new license. They said if the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was going to renew the license, it should only be for 20 years because of environmental and safety problems. Those issues included nuclear material leaking through the plant floor and groundwater pollution. But federal officials say a recent environmental study found only small to moderate environmental impacts could be expected from the plant through 2062.

Duke Energy filed an application earlier this month with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the licenses to run its reactors at the Oconee Nuclear Station near Seneca for 20 more years. The Anderson Independent-Mail reported that the licenses would run until 2053 and 2054. Duke Energy says the extensions are part of its plans to seek 20-year license extensions at its six reactors at three sites in South Carolina.