|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by WILL FOLKS
***
A day before South Carolina’s debt-addled, chronically mismanaged, government-run power company Santee Cooper was set to announce its partner for a multi-billion dollar nuclear reboot, the process the state-owned utility used to choose the winning bid is facing fresh scrutiny.
As we previously reported, Santee Cooper chose three finalists from the estimated 14 proposals it originally received for a long-awaited restart of the abandoned V.C. Summer nuclear generating station in Fairfield County.
The winning bid was set to be announced this Friday (October 24, 2025).
Located near Jenkinsville, S.C. – approximately 25 miles northwest of Columbia, S.C. – two partially completed, next generation, pressurized water reactors await their fate. The abandoned reactors were supposed to have been finished in 2017, but delays and cost overruns doomed their construction. The project was eventually scrapped after $10 billion of taxpayer and ratepayer money had already been spent.
The fiasco – which we dubbed “NukeGate” – put private sector provider SCANA out of business and buried Santee Cooper under billions of dollars in debt. Meanwhile, taxpayer and ratepayers have been picking up the slack ever since.
***
“Units No. 2 and No. 3 at V.C. Summer were supposed to usher in a new era of energy generation in the Palmetto State – producing a combined 2,300 megawatts of clean, carbon-free energy,” we noted in our recent coverage. “Instead, the abandoned project generated nothing but lies, taxpayer debt and higher rates on South Carolina energy customers.”
In consultation with Centerview Partners and J.P. Morgan, Santee Cooper has been reviewing bids with the objective of selecting a partner and completing due diligence on the feasibility of the reboot prior to the end of the year. That timetable was thrown into disarray on Thursday (October 23, 2025) when one of the three finalists – The Nuclear Company – sent a scathing letter to the utility withdrawing its proposal.
In addition to challenging the utility on some of the most basic assumptions tied to the cost of the reboot, the company’s chief executive officer, Jonathan Webb, blistered Santee Cooper for essentially rigging the bidding process.
“We are further concerned that the RFP process itself may have been fundamentally compromised by the evaluation of bids outside the established framework, by parties previously involved in the V.C. Summer project, and with access to information that the other parties did not have,” Webb wrote in his letter to the utility’s board. “Sadly, this creates an uneven playing field and undermines the transparency and fairness essential to a project of this importance.”
***
RELATED | NUCLEAR REBOOT DRAWS NIGH
***
“Restoring the confidence of South Carolinians in our ability to build nuclear power will require a transparent, rules-based process, one that ensures equitable treatment of all participants and safeguards the long-term interests of the people of South Carolina,” Webb continued. “The lessons of this industry’s history are clear: when nuclear projects advance outside disciplined and transparent frameworks, the consequences are not hypothetical; they are catastrophic.”
Santee Cooper leaders did not immediately respond to our request for comment regarding the allegations contained in Webb’s letter. Should that change, we will update our coverage with their responses.
According to sources familiar with the negotiations, TNC was the lead entity on one of the three final bids. The others were reportedly Elementl and the Oppenheimer Project. Approximately two weeks ago, Santee Cooper leaders went “radio silent” in its communication with all three entities, per our sources.
“They’ve been talking to another partner,” a source familiar with the situation told FITSNews, alleging Santee Cooper had sought an agreement outside the parameters of its original request for proposals (RFP) process.
Our source declined to identify the company allegedly approached by the utility, but several Santee Cooper sources hinted it was Brookfield – a Canadian-based conglomerate which acquired Westinghouse following its 2018 bankruptcy.
Westinghouse, of course, is the company which was criminally implicated in the original NukeGate debacle.
According to these sources, Brookfield’s proposal was the only one which put $2.7 billion on the table to address lingering ratepayer obligations tied to the new project. The company also agreed to allow Santee Cooper to retain a 25% stake in the final project – and receive 25% of the power it provided (at a below market cost).
Stay tuned to FITSNews as we keep our audience apprised of developments related to this ongoing saga…
***
UPDATE |
Confirmed. Santee Cooper’s board will announce a partnership with Brookfield to reboot V.C. Summer units No. 2 and No. 3 at its meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. EDT (October 24, 2025).
***
THE LETTER…
(Provided)
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
4 comments
You have no idea what youre talking about.
The people in the State House have refused offers of free Engineering help from experts located in South Carolina. Letting the State House run this rebuild thru its controlled Santee Cooper, will only lead to another failure. They know nothing about how to build a Nuke Power Plant. Only about how to lose Taxpayer money. This entire rebuild should be run by SC Professional Power Engineers with decades of successful experience. Funding should not come from SC Citizens. The entire site should be sold to others who will gladly pay for it, and finish it: i.e., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc. All of which want in on the US Power business using their existing energy business money. We have idiots running this rebuild.
Santee Cooper is selling the site, they will not be involved in the rebuild. The rebuild is being financed by private money, none of it will come from taxpayers.
Note – Oppenheimer Energy is the party, not Oppenheimer Project.