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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

"S.C. Electric & Gas Co. has won approval for a revised production schedule for the two nuclear reactors it intends to build in Fairfield County. The utility applied to the S.C. Public Service Commission last year to revise parts of its construction schedule while not adjusting the final target dates for the two reactors to be ready, in April 2016 and January 2019. In its filing, the utility asserted that the schedule changes were necessary as it gets contracts in place for plant construction and the fabrication of components. The filing had been opposed by the Friends of the Earth environmental group. It cited concerns that the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has raised over the Westinghouse reactor design that SCE&G plans to use. Delays in federal approval of that design would keep SCE&G from keeping its schedule, the group argued, but the Public Service Commission did not agree. SCE&G said that it will press Westinghouse to address the federal agency's concerns and keep its schedule intact. Changes to the project's capital cost schedule that resulted from the revised schedule also were approved by the commission."

When SCE&G filed an application in May to raise its rates by 37 percent, buried in the application was a petition to begin clearing a site for two new reactors at the utility's V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Fairfield County. While the power company posted a notice that it would accept public comments on the petition, SCE&G did not plan a hearing to discuss its plans, according to Tom Clements, regional coordinator of nuclear issues for Friends of the Earth. "They had requested in the petition that the decision be made by the [S.C.] Public Service Commission without any form of hearing," Clements says.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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. "

SCE&G ratepayers' bills would rise 37 percent by 2019 if the state approves the Columbia utility's plan to start paying costs upfront for two large nuclear reactors it would build 25 miles northwest of Columbia.

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.

"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."

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.

Not only does the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) objection last week to major problems in the AP1000 reactor design call into serious question the future of over half of proposed new reactors in the United States (14 of 25), it also means that it would be "grossly imprudent" for the Department of Energy (DOE) to proceed with its plans for loan guarantees for new reactors that are not finalized and licensed. Four experts delivered that stern warning during a news conference today urging the DOE to halt controversial plans to issue nuclear loan guarantees "soon," according to Energy Secretary Chu. These guarantees are part of the DOE's Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program. Two of the four new nuclear projects that the DOE is reported to be considering for taxpayer-backed loan guarantees are AP1000 designs proposed by the Southern Company at the Vogtle site in Georgia and the South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) V.C. Summer site.

Not only does the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) objection last week to major problems in the AP1000 reactor design call into serious question the future of over half of proposed new reactors in the United States (14 of 25), it also means that it would be "grossly imprudent" for the Department of Energy (DOE) to proceed with its plans for loan guarantees for new reactors that are not finalized and licensed. Four experts delivered that stern warning during a news conference today urging the DOE to halt controversial plans to issue nuclear loan guarantees "soon," according to Energy Secretary Chu. These guarantees are part of the DOE's Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program. Two of the four new nuclear projects that the DOE is reported to be considering for taxpayer-backed loan guarantees are AP1000 designs proposed by the Southern Company at the Vogtle site in Georgia and the South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) V.C. Summer site.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.