Global Energy

[grarpamp]

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/08/01/2019230/us-nuclear-comeback-stalls-as-two-reactors-are-abandoned

In a major blow to the future of nuclear power in the United States,
two South Carolina utilities said on Monday that they would abandon
two unfinished nuclear reactors in the state, putting an end to a
project that was once expected to showcase advanced nuclear technology
but has since been plagued by delays and cost overruns. The two
reactors, which have cost the utilities roughly $9 billion, remain
less than 40 percent built. The cancellation means there are just two
new nuclear units being built in the country -- both in Georgia --
while more than a dozen older nuclear plants are being retired in the
face of low natural gas prices. Originally scheduled to come online by
2018, the V.C. Summer nuclear project in South Carolina had been
plagued by disputes with regulators and numerous construction
problems. This year, utility officials estimated that the reactors
would not begin generating electricity before 2021 and could cost as
much as $25 billion -- more than twice the initial $11.5 billion
estimate. The utilities also struggled with an energy landscape that
had changed dramatically since the large reactors were proposed in
2007. Demand for electricity has plateaued nationwide as a result of
major improvements in energy efficiency, weakening the case for
massive new power plants. And a glut of cheap natural gas from the
hydraulic fracturing boom has given states a low-cost energy
alternative. Facing those pressures, the two owners of the project,
South Carolina Electric & Gas and Santee Cooper, announced they would
halt construction rather than saddle customers with additional costs.


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