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The Grand Strand, South Carolina's tourist economic engine, won't have enough electricity by 2012 to keep its beachfront towers aglow unless a new $1.2 billion coal-burning power station is built near Florence. That was the warning Santee Cooper, the state-owned electricity company, gave to state and federal regulators. It was the argument the power company presented at public hearings. And it was that caution that Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper's president and chief executive, offered during interviews with journalists. The argument that the coal-fired power plant was the only solution formed the key justification for Santee Cooper to spend $242 million over the past three years, most of that stockpiling material to build, even though it lacked government approval to operate the facility.

The Grand Strand, South Carolina's tourist economic engine, won't have enough electricity by 2012 to keep its beachfront towers aglow unless a new $1.2 billion coal-burning power station is built near Florence. That was the warning Santee Cooper, the state-owned electricity company, gave to state and federal regulators. It was the argument the power company presented at public hearings. And it was that caution that Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper's president and chief executive, offered during interviews with journalists. The argument that the coal-fired power plant was the only solution formed the key justification for Santee Cooper to spend $242 million over the past three years, most of that stockpiling material to build, even though it lacked government approval to operate the facility.

Scana Corp. said it and Santee Cooper will pay $6.4 billion to the companies hired to design and build two proposed nuclear power generators in the Midlands. The two contractors on the 1,117-megawatt nuclear expansion are Westinghouse Electric Co. and Stone & Webster Inc. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $9.8 billion, with SCE&G paying $5.4 billion and state-owned Santee Cooper paying $4.4 billion.

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, Acting for Itself and as Agent for the South Carolina Public Service Authority (Also Referred to as Santee Cooper) Application for the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 and 3; Notice of Order, Hearing, and Opportunity To Petition for Leave To Intervene

Opponents say plans to build two nuclear reactors northwest of Columbia is too risky and expensive. The Public Service Commission on Monday conducted a public hearing on plans by South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. and the state-owned utility Santee Cooper to build two new reactors at their plant in Fairfield County. The utilities estimate the two reactors would cost nearly $10 billion.

SCE&G's plan to build two reactors goes before state regulators Wednesday SCE&G and Santee Cooper estimate it will cost about $10 billion to build two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County. What nuclear energy can you do with $10 billion? A few ideas: Thirty years after the commercial nuclear power industry appeared dead, South Carolina is on the leading edge of its rebound. Nationwide, applications to build a dozen nuclear power reactors - four in South Carolina - have been filed with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. While there is growing public support for nuclear power, its resurgence also has touched off a firestorm of debate.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is raising safety concerns a proposed new reactor designed by Westinghouse, two of which South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. and Santee Cooper plan to install at their existing plant north of Columbia. A key part of the reactor may not withstand a tornado, earthquake or even high winds, NRC said. The commission staff has directed Westinghouse to make changes in the reactor design so its outer shell, which protects the reactor's containment structure, is strengthened. The staff concluded the steel and concrete structure of the AAP-1000 reactor does not meet safety design requirements. SCE&G spokesman Robert Yanity said Thursday the redesign is not expected to affect the schedule of the South Carolina reactors, which are set to come online by 2016 and 2019, respectively. The project at the V.C. Summer nuclear station near Jenkinsville is projected to cost $10 billion. Utility officials hope to have a combined operating and construction license in hand by 2011.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is raising safety concerns a proposed new reactor designed by Westinghouse, two of which South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. and Santee Cooper plan to install at their existing plant north of Columbia. A key part of the reactor may not withstand a tornado, earthquake or even high winds, NRC said. The commission staff has directed Westinghouse to make changes in the reactor design so its outer shell, which protects the reactor's containment structure, is strengthened. The staff concluded the steel and concrete structure of the AAP-1000 reactor does not meet safety design requirements. SCE&G spokesman Robert Yanity said Thursday the redesign is not expected to affect the schedule of the South Carolina reactors, which are set to come online by 2016 and 2019, respectively. The project at the V.C. Summer nuclear station near Jenkinsville is projected to cost $10 billion. Utility officials hope to have a combined operating and construction license in hand by 2011.

With Nevada storage site out, radioactive waste would have be kept in Jenkinsville SCE&G would have to store radioactive waste produced by new reactors at its Jenkinsville nuclear plant until the federal government finds a place to bury it, a utility executive said Wednesday. Steve Byrne, vice president of nuclear operations, said the plans for two new reactors the utility wants to build call for waste such as spent fuel rods to be stored above ground in concrete-enclosed casks. Byrne offered his remarks to the state Public Service Commission, which is hearing an application submitted by South Carolina Electric & Gas and its partner, state-operated Santee Cooper, to build two 1,117-megawatt reactor units, costing $9.8 billion, at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station.

Beginning Monday, state regulators will hold hearings that promise to be as combustible as the topic. That's when the Public Service Commission listens to arguments on whether expanding nuclear power is the best way to meet South Carolina's energy needs. Specifically, the panel will consider a proposal from SCE&G and its partner Santee Cooper to build two new reactors costing $9.8 billion at their nuclear plant in Jenkinsville, 25 miles northwest of Columbia.

Participating in nuclear power hearing can be a 'learn-as-you-go' process Joseph Wojcicki concedes his last name can twist tongues. "It's Voo-tess-kee," the West Columbia man says with a thick Polish accent. "But you can call me 'Joe the Intervenor.'" A retired Midlands Tech math teacher, Wojcicki took part as a citizen intervenor in the Public Service Commission's almost three-week-long hearing on SCE&G's $9.8 billion plan to add two reactor units to the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station at Jenkinsville. Intervenors, 12/22/08 Intervenors Pamela Greenlaw, bottom left, Meira Warshauer, center, and Joseph Wojcicki, right, listen to attorney Bob Guild, standing left, as he enters an objection to secret building cost amounts during the hearing before the commission. The intervenors sit at the table with lawyers for other groups challenging the nuclear plan. They represent the consumer. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 Lay-people known as "intervenors" question witnesses at the Public Service Commission hearing on SCE&G's plan to build two reactors at its plant in Jenkinsville. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 About a half-dozen lay-people known as "intervenors" are questioning witnesses at the Public Service Commission hearing on SCE&G's plan to build two reactors at its plant in Jenkinsville. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 Intervenors Pamela Greenlaw, bottom left, Meira Warshauer, center, and Joseph Wojcicki, right, listen to attorney Bob Guild, standing left, as he enters an objection to secret building cost amounts during the hearing before the commission. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 Intervenor Joseph Wojcicki looks through documents during the hearing before the commission. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 Citizen intervenor Meira Warshauer, left, asks a que

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity to participate in the hearing on a Combined License (COL) application for two new reactors at the Summer site near Columbia, S.C. The applicants, South Carolina Electric & Gas and Santee Cooper, submitted the application and associated information March 27, seeking permission to build and operate two AP1000 reactors at the site. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/summer.html.

The application by SCE&G and Santee Cooper to build two reactors in Fairfield County will have to work its way through state and federal regulatory agencies before the reactors begin operation. A look at the timeline:

South Carolina Electric and Gas Company as Itself and Acting as Agent for the South Carolina Public Service Company (Also Referred to as Santee Cooper) Acceptance for Docketing of an Application for Combined License for Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 and 3

The state's health agency will be testing water from wells near three nuclear reactor sites around South Carolina. The Department of Health and Environmental Control says its staffers will visit residents Thursday and take samples from wells near Duke Energy Inc.'s nuclear power plants in York and Oconee counties and near the V.C. Summer plant in Fairfield County, which is co-owned by South Carolina Electric and Gas and state-owned utility Santee Cooper.

South Carolina's two largest utilities said Tuesday they have agreed to pay nearly $10 billion through 2019 to add two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County - only the second time power companies have made a financial commitment to build a nuclear plant in 30 years. Columbia-based South Carolina Electric & Gas and state-owned Santee Cooper signed a contract with Westinghouse Electric Co. and The Shaw Group to design and build two reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Westinghouse Electric Company, a US subsidiary of Japanese firm Toshiba Corporation, said Tuesday it had signed a deal to build two nuclear power reactors in the US state of South Carolina. Westinghouse said it had signed the nuclear plant deal with South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) and Santee Cooper, a South Carolina state-owned electric and water utility. It did not disclose the financial value of the deal.

South Carolina Electric and Gas Company Acting for Itself and as Agent for the South Carolina Public Service Company (Also Refered to as Santee Cooper) Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 and 3 Combined License Application; Notice of an Extension to the Environmental Scoping Period

Environmental group Friends of the Earth wants South Carolina regulators to reconsider their decision to allow a utility to build two nuclear reactors near Columbia. The law the Public Service Commission used to approve the project is unconstitutional and South Carolina Electric & Gas failed to demonstrate a need for the reactors or fully detail the environmental impact of the reactors, the group said in its request to reconsider filed Monday. State regulators last month approved SCE&G's request to build the two 1,100-megawatt reactors along with Santee Cooper at the same site where the utilities currently run a reactor near Jenkinsville, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia.

South Carolina regulators have unanimously approved a request by the state's largest utility, South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G), to join with a state-owned utility to build two nuclear reactors. The South Carolina Public Service Commission vote on Wednesday gave South Carolina Electric & Gas the right to begin raising electricity rates next month to help pay for its portion of the $9.8 billion project. SCE&G, a subsidiary of SCANA Corp (SCG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), and Santee Cooper, known formally as the South Carolina Public Service Authority, plan to build the two reactors at the site of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville, about 30 miles north of the state capitol, Columbia.

Utility officials on Thursday knocked down reports that Duke Energy could be joining in SCE&G's expansion project at its Jenkinsville nuclear plant. Advertisement "We are not looking for other partners," SCE&G spokesman Robert Yanity said. Columbia-based South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. already is partnering with state-operated Santee Cooper on a $9.8 billion plan to add two 1,110-megawatt reactor units at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station.

South Carolina Electric & Gas, or SCE&G, is seeking a 1.1% increase to its electric rates under a state law that allows annual rate adjustments during construction of power reactors. SCE&G and state-owned utility Santee Cooper are planning to build two Westinghouse AP1000s at the Summer site. The state's Base Load Review Act, passed in 2007, allows for annual adjustments to rates during reactor construction as a way to recover project financing costs.