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Electric and natural gas utility SCANA Corp. spent $200,000 in the second quarter to lobby on nuclear energy funding and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report. Columbia-based SCANA also lobbied the federal government on legislation involving Energy Department loan guarantees, nuclear waste disposal, clean air, climate change, rail competition and fuel production tax credits.

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 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.

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.

"State utility regulators have set three night hearings on a proposed rate increase for South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. The Public Service Commission said Wednesday the 6 p.m. hearings will be conducted in Summerville, Charleston and Columbia. SCE&G, a subsidiary of Scana Corp., is seeking 9.5 percent increase in electricity rates to pay for federally mandated environmental improvements to its plants and for its backup dam near Columbia."

"South Carolina's largest investor-owned utility plans to increase electric rates 2.73 percent to help pay financing costs for two nuclear reactors it plans to build. South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., a subsidiary of Scana Corp., said in a news release Friday that the rate increase, set to take effect in October, will add about $3.33 to the monthly bill of a customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each month. The increase must be approved by state utility regulators."

"Federal nuclear power regulators want the public to weigh in on a preliminary report they say shows there are no environmental concerns that would keep two new nuclear reactors from being built in South Carolina. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are at White Hall AME Church in Jenkinsville on Thursday to discuss a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed reactors. South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., a subsidiary of Scana Corp., wants to build two, 1,100-megawatt reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia."

Regulators' concerns about two new nuclear reactor designs could throw a wrench in energy companies' plans for a build-out of nuclear power plants in the U.S. Regulators in France, the U.K. and Finland told French nuclear powerhouse Areva S.A. (CEI.FR) earlier this month to fix a flaw in the safety systems for its EPR reactor, which the company is also seeking to license in the U.S. And in October, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected a modified version of the AP1000 reactor, designed by Toshiba Corp.'s (6502.TO) Westinghouse Electric Co., citing concerns about structural integrity. Regulatory delays could force U.S. power companies like Scana Corp. (SCG) and PPL Corp. (PPL) to push back their timetables for building nuclear power plants using the new reactor technology, though both of these companies say their plans currently remain on track. More than a decade after the last commercial nuclear reactor was completed in the U.S., such delays could lead to the kinds of cost overruns that plagued developers in the first wave of U.S. nuclear power plant construction.

Regulators' concerns about two new nuclear reactor designs could throw a wrench in energy companies' plans for a build-out of nuclear power plants in the U.S. Regulators in France, the U.K. and Finland told French nuclear powerhouse Areva S.A. (CEI.FR) earlier this month to fix a flaw in the safety systems for its EPR reactor, which the company is also seeking to license in the U.S. And in October, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected a modified version of the AP1000 reactor, designed by Toshiba Corp.'s (6502.TO) Westinghouse Electric Co., citing concerns about structural integrity. Regulatory delays could force U.S. power companies like Scana Corp. (SCG) and PPL Corp. (PPL) to push back their timetables for building nuclear power plants using the new reactor technology, though both of these companies say their plans currently remain on track. More than a decade after the last commercial nuclear reactor was completed in the U.S., such delays could lead to the kinds of cost overruns that plagued developers in the first wave of U.S. nuclear power plant construction.

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 field of U.S. companies competing for $18.5 billion in government-backed loans to build new nuclear plants has narrowed to five from about 14 last year, company sources said. Officials with projects in Texas, Maryland and South Carolina confirmed they were still in the running for a piece of U.S. Energy Department loan backing, which could be crucial to spurring the first round of nuclear plant building in more than 30 years. NRG Energy's South Texas Project units 3 and 4; Unistar Nuclear's Calvert Cliffs 3 reactor in Maryland; and SCANA Corp/Santee Cooper's two-unit expansion at the Summer station in South Carolina are among five projects still under DOE consideration, company officials said.

Southern Co., the biggest U.S. power producer, is seeking permission from the federal government to build two additional nuclear reactors and almost double output at its Vogtle site in Georgia. The company is proposing to add two 1,150-megawatt reactors to the two-unit site about 20 miles south of Augusta. Atlanta-based Southern's application was the first of two submitted Monday to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. South Carolina-based SCANA Corp. said it also filed an application. "We expect demand for electricity in the Southeast, specifically in Georgia, to increase significantly by 2015 and beyond," Barnie Beasley, president of Southern's nuclear unit, said in a statement. "Nuclear power is a safe, reliable, cost-effective power source that has a low impact on the environment."

The Department of Energy has narrowed the list of proposed new nuclear power plants it is considering for $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees down to four from five, a spokeswoman said. "We have proceeded to due diligence with four applications for nuclear loan guarantees that are farthest along in the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] application process," the spokeswoman said. "We have not made any final decisions and have not eliminated any of the applicants." New reactors at Southern Co.'s (SO) Vogtle plant in Georgia, Scana Corp.'s ( SCG) Summer plant in South Carolina, Constellation Energy Group's (CEG) Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland and NRG Energy Inc.'s (NRG) South Texas plant are among the projects still in the running for federal loan backing. Under the loan guarantee program, the government promises to assume the companies' debt obligations if they default on loans for the nuclear projects.

"U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that the Obama administration hopes to issue nuclear loan guarantees "soon" as part of a broader plan to speed up loan guarantees, but that the government is running into problems finalizing the subsidies. "We're going to be accelerating our loan-guarantee process even more," Chu told reporters in a briefing to discuss the administration's priorities for 2010. Chu said that nuclear loan guarantees would come "soon," but that getting them finalized was "more complicated than I thought." Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG), NRG Energy Inc. (NRG), Scana Corp. ( SCG) and Southern Co. (SO) are expected to receive the first guarantees for nuclear projects. Government support is viewed as essential because of high costs, lengthy timetables and a history of cost overruns in the construction of nuclear reactors."