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Senator urges support for Santee Cooper RFP to complete VC Summer reactors; joint resolution S51 filed
Summary
A senator urged colleagues to support Santee Cooper’s request for proposals to private operators to purchase and complete the V.C. Summer nuclear units, argued federal tax credits and loan guarantees make completion feasible, and noted a joint resolution (S51) supporting the effort has bipartisan cosponsors and a pending committee hearing.
A South Carolina senator urged the Senate to back efforts by state utility Santee Cooper to solicit private bids to purchase and complete the two partially constructed V.C. Summer nuclear reactors.
On the floor the senator said the state and customers have already absorbed roughly $8 billion in costs tied to the project and that about $5.7 billion remains in rate base despite no generation from the units. The senator urged the General Assembly to consider supporting Santee Cooper’s RFP process and cosponsored a joint resolution, S51, that he said has 37 senate cosponsors and has been set for committee consideration.
The senator argued completion is feasible now because technical problems experienced when the AP1000 design was first constructed have been resolved in later builds, a workforce exists that completed similar units in Georgia, and federal incentives including tax credits and loan guarantees administered by the Department of Energy can lower effective construction costs. He also pointed to private‑sector examples of investment in nuclear assets, saying that firms have pursued similar projects elsewhere.
“What we can do to help that, and I thank the chairman of judiciary for this, is the joint resolution that I have filed encouraging and urging and supporting this by Santee Cooper, which has been cosponsored by 37 senators in this chamber,” the senator said on the floor. “Hopefully, we can get that moved through the process over to the house, down at the governor's desk.”
Why this matters: If private bidders come forward and a sale‑and‑completion plan is negotiated, the senator said the state could bring 2,200 megawatts of carbon‑free generation online and shift sunk costs off customer rate bases, which could reduce rates for utility customers if structured that way. The RFP process was described as ongoing and due‑diligence responses were expected over several months.
Next steps: S51 was filed and scheduled for a committee hearing. Senators said they would consider the joint resolution and any statutory changes needed to support Santee Cooper and private bidder participation.
