Designer, builder of 2 plants would get $6.4B

Scana Corp. and Santee Cooper would pay $6.4 billion to the companies hired to design and build two new nuclear reactors in the Midlands.

Scana, the parent of South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., had said previously that the value of that contract was confidential. In a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Columbia-based investor-owned utility said it changed its mind.

"There were still some folks ... in the financial sector who had some questions about the contract aspect of that," said SCE&G spokesman Eric Boomhower. "This clarifies that."

The two contractors hired to oversee the design and construction of the 1,117-megawatt nuclear expansion are Westinghouse Electric Co. and Stone & Webster Inc.

The total cost of the proposed project is unchanged from previous estimates at $9.8 billion, with SCE&G paying $5.4 billion and state-owned utility Santee Cooper footing the remaining $4.4 billion.

The two new generating units would be built near the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville.

The utilities cite growing demand for power in the region, but their proposal has stirred up controversy.

For instance, SCE&G is running into objections over its request to start charging ratepayers now to recoup its portion of the project. Originally, the company was to file all of its information by Sept. 16, giving the public two weeks to respond in writing. Public hearings were scheduled to start Oct. 27.

The South Carolina Energy Users Committee and CMC Steel South Carolina want regulators to give them and other interested parties more time to review SCE&G's filings and move the hearings to January. SCE&G has suggested December.

No decision has been made, but by law the Public Service Commission must decide the rate case in February — nine months after the utility filed its request.

A PSC representative heard Wednesday from individuals who object to the proposed reactors. Several of those individuals are supposed to tour the Fairfield County site next week.

The project also requires approval from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.