SCE&G Shows Off New Reactor Site

JENKINSVILLE, S.C. (AP) –Officials with South Carolina Electric & Gas and the state-owned utility Santee Cooper are celebrating the licenses that will allow them to build two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County. The utilities treated employees and construction workers to a barbecue lunch Monday and showed off the work that has begun at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville. Santee Cooper president Lonnie Carter says the reactors will bring more business into South Carolina because companies are interested in places that have what he called a clean, reliable source of power. Opponents say the reactors are not needed and the design has not been properly reviewed since the Japan reactor disaster. The first is expected to be on line by 2017; the second in 2018. Total cost is estimated at $10 billion.