South Carolina utility looks for buyers for failed nuclear project

A major electricity provider in South Carolina began accepting bids from buyers on Wednesday to complete two nuclear reactors, hoping to take advantage of recent interest in the energy source from technology companies.
The utility, Santee Cooper, wants to sell the reactors that were dismantled in 2017 before half was completed. Its decision comes as the tech industry, which is increasingly building power-hungry data centers, has begun looking to nuclear plants for their ability to provide lots of power around the clock without releasing emissions responsible for climate change. Has given.
But delays and cost overruns have plagued nuclear power in recent decades in the United States. When Santee Cooper halted construction of two reactors at the VC Summers Power Plant, it reduced construction to less than 40 percent and halted a project that was supposed to be a significant step forward for nuclear power generation in the United States . The company and a partner, South Carolina Electric & Gas, spent about $9 billion on the unfinished reactors.
Santee Cooper said it was working with investment firm Centerview Partners to receive offers from potential buyers by May 5. The company stated that it had no intention of owning or operating the reactors after they were completed.
“We are seeing renewed interest in nuclear power, driven by advanced manufacturing investments, demand for AI-powered data centers, and the tech industry’s zero-carbon goals,” Santee Cooper Chief Executive Jimmy Staton said in a statement. “
Initially proposed in 2007 – at a time when industry executives were predicting a resurgence in nuclear power – the South Carolina project struggled with a changing energy landscape before being halted a decade later. Demand for electricity increased nationwide during those years due to improvements in energy efficiency, while the hydraulic fracturing boom flooded the country with cheap natural gas, a large portion of which is burned in power plants to generate electricity. .
VC Summer has a large operating nuclear reactor that was built in 1982 and is run by Dominion Energy, a utility company in Richmond, Virginia, which purchased South Carolina Electric & Gas in 2019. That reactor is not part of the sale of the two incomplete reactors owned by Santee Cooper.
The energy landscape has changed again in recent years. Several tech giants, including Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet, have said they will help finance nuclear reactor construction to support their artificial intelligence expansion.
The federal government also stepped in to support the resurgence of interest in nuclear power. In September, the Energy Department said it had finalized a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to help restart a shuttered nuclear plant in Michigan. Congress and the Biden administration offered billions of dollars in subsidies to keep old nuclear plants running and build new reactors. While President Trump appointed former President Joseph R. Has opposed many of Biden Jr.’s energy and climate policies and sought to repeal them, saying he supports nuclear energy.
Globally, demand for nuclear energy has been increasing in recent years along with increasing concern about climate change. Nuclear reactors can generate electricity without emitting planet-warming greenhouse gases. But environmentalists and some other critics say building the reactors could be too expensive and the United States has still not settled on a strategy for long-term storage of the radioactive waste produced by the reactors. Some other countries have developed such storage spaces.
(Tags to translate) South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santy Cooper) (T) Nuclear power (T) Data centers (T) South Carolina (T) Computers and Internet (T) Electric light and power (T) Energy and power
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