Partners in a South Carolina nuclear project that is Plant Vogtle’s near-twin have decided to pull the plug, saying it would be “prohibitively expensive” to finish it, according to a published report.
In a press release, one of the partners in the project, SCE&G, said Monday that rising costs of the $14 billion V.C. Summer nuclear station expansion project, falling demand for electricity, construction delays and the bankruptcy of a key contractor were reasons behind the decision, according to The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C.
The Vogtle project to add two new nuclear reactors at a Georgia Power plant near Augusta faces a similar set of challenges.
Comment from Georgia Power, the lead partner in the Plant Vogtle expansion, was not immediately available.
The Vogtle project was already more than $3 billion over budget and over three years behind schedule when Westinghouse Electric, which supplied the same reactor designs for both Vogtle and the South Carolina project, filed bankruptcy in late March.
Critics of the Vogtle project have also said that slowing demand for electricity has made the bigger nuclear plant unnecessary and overly expensive compared to alternatives.
Last week, Georgia Power said it has finalized an agreement with Westinghouse to continue providing support for the project. The Atlanta utility said last week that it is continuing to analyze the project’s costs and viability while it continues construction.
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