Dive Summary:
- South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G) said Wednesday that its two nuclear plants under construction in Fairfield County are still below estimated costs despite project delays which have added $200 million in additional expenses.
- The utility is funding 55% of the $10 billion V.C. Summer Nuclear Station, which is one of two nuclear plant projects under construction in the U.S, and is jointly-owned by state-owned utility Santee Cooper.
- Issues with training, suppliers and engineering are driving the delays, which expected to continue through the plants’ scheduled in 2017 or early 2018. But "[the project's contractors are] getting their act together," says Steve Byrne, SCE&G’s chief operating officer. "They appear to have turned a corner."
From the article:
SCE&G, a unit of SCANA Corp., blames the delay on a components supplier. The Lake Charles, La., plant was unaccustomed to the high degree of scrutiny associated with nuclear work, he said. While some issues were what he called "genuine," such as in welding, many of the problems concerned documentation and tracking employee training. Plus, employees needed engineering assistance from the designer for the new technology, Byrne said. [...]
The two utilities have spent a combined $3.5 billion so far on the reactors. SCE&G's current estimate of its total cost is $5.8 billion, or nearly $550 million below initial forecasts in 2009, he said.
