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Federal regulators say SCE&G operates a safe nuclear plant, but that doesn't stop Tange Jacobs from worrying about where she and her neighbors would go if there was an accident. "I know people who are in wheelchairs and bedridden," Jacobs said. "What are you going to do about them?" Jacobs voiced her concerns about V.C. Summer Nuclear Station during an open house Monday night at McCrorey-Liston Elementary School. South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. and its state-operated partner, Santee Cooper, are seeking federal approval to add two reactor generating units costing $9.8 billion to the nuclear plant.

"Supreme Court has rejected an environmental group's challenge of electricity rate increases to pay for proposed nuclear reactors. The State newspaper reported the court on Monday upheld the Public Service Commission's decision to allow South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. to increase rates to pay for nuclear reactors in Fairfield County. SCE&G is working with state-owned utility Santee Cooper to build two nuclear-powered generators for a total cost of $10 billion. SCE&G has said it will save $1 billion by increasing rates now instead of waiting until the first reactor comes online in 2016. Friends of the Earth had argued regulators failed to sufficiently review the need for the plants, but the justices disagreed. "

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold public meetings Tuesday, Jan. 27, in Winnsboro, S.C., and Wednesday, Jan. 28, in Blair, S.C., to discuss the environmental issues the agency should consider in reviewing a Combined License (COL) application for two new reactors proposed for the Summer site near Columbia, S.C. The NRC will meet with the public on Jan. 27 from 7 - 10 p.m. at Fairfield Central High School, 836 US Highway 321 Bypass S in Winnsboro, and on Jan. 28 from 7 - 10 p.m. at McCrorey-Liston Elementary School, 1978 State Hwy 215 South in Blair. The application's environmental report is available on the agency's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/summer.html. Copies of the report are also available at the Fairfield County Library, 300 Washington St. in Winnsboro. NRC staff will be available for informal discussions with members of the public during "open house" sessions both evenings from 6 - 7 p.m. Formal comments on the environmental review will only be accepted during the meeting from 7 - 10 p.m.

An environmental group Friday asked the state Supreme Court to block an application for South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. to build two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County. In the lawsuit, Friends of the Earth challenges the constitutionality of a 2007 law that allows utilities to charge customers higher rates to cover future building costs for reactors. The SCANA Corp. said it wasn't surprised that Friends of the Earth appealed a regulators' decisions allowing it move forward with a project expected to cost $10 billion.