Now, Santee Cooper thinks those assets might attract buyers. The utility launched a request for proposals to buy what’s left of Summer-2 and -3 last week. Centerview Partners LLC is conducting the RFP process for the agency, “seeking parties interested in acquiring the project and related assets and potentially completing one or both units or pursuing alternative uses of the assets.” Bids responding to the RFP released are due May 5.
A unique opportunity: “We are seeing renewed interest in nuclear energy, fueled by advanced manufacturing investments, AI-driven data center demand, and the tech industry’s zero-carbon targets,” said Santee Cooper president and chief executive officer Jimmy Staton. “Considering the long timelines required to bring new nuclear units on line, Santee Cooper has a unique opportunity to explore options for Summer Units 2 and 3 and their related assets that could allow someone to generate reliable, carbon emissions–free electricity on a meaningfully shortened timeline.”
Santee Cooper was formerly 45 percent owner of the Summer-2 and -3 construction project, but it has no plans to own or operate the units, Staton said. Instead, the company wants to see another entity “produce benefits for our customers, support economic development and provide value to the state of South Carolina.” As a state-owned entity, the company recognizes “the interest of state leaders in Santee Cooper moving forward with this RFP,” Staton said.
Key context: SCE&G applied for combined construction and operating licenses (COLs) in March 2008 for the site where Summer-1, a 966 net MWe Westinghouse pressurized water reactor, had been in commercial operation since 1984. The COLs were issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2012, and safety-related construction began in March 2013 with the pouring of basemat concrete for Summer-2 (just three days before the first concrete pour at Vogtle-3), as Nuclear News reported in April 2013.
Before the project was canceled, NN reported in June 2017 that the construction project was “about 64 percent complete in [engineering, procurement, and construction] terms.”
Because the NRC terminated the COLs for the two reactors in March 2019 at the request of the project owners, any purchaser wanting to build and operate new reactors would need to reapply for a license. The issued-then-terminated licenses for Summer-2 and -3 should provide a head start.
According to Santee Cooper, SCE&G transferred its interest in the assets now up for sale to the utility in 2018. Then in August 2020, Santee Cooper and Westinghouse finalized a settlement giving Santee Cooper full ownership and rights to sell all nonnuclear equipment, and partial rights to the sales proceeds from the plant’s nuclear-related equipment.
What does the site offer? Here are a few of the reasons Santee Cooper thinks Summer is “the only site in the U.S. that could deliver 2,200 MW of nuclear capacity on an accelerated timeline.”
The Summer-2 and -3 project used AP1000 technology, which is now in service at Southern Nuclear’s Vogtle site.
Summer was originally expected to host multiple reactors.
The site has water and transmission infrastructure upgrades already installed to accommodate output from Summer-2 and -3.
