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Regulators to hear plans to stop building 2 nuclear reactors

FILE - This April 9, 2012 file photo shows construction well underway for two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, S.C. South Carolina's state-owned public utility has voted to stop construction on two billion-dollar nuclear reactors. The reactors were set to be among the first new nuclear reactors built in the U.S. in decades, but the vote by Santee Cooper’s board on Monday, July 31, 2017 likely ends their future. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
FILE - This April 9, 2012 file photo shows construction well underway for two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, S.C. South Carolina's state-owned public utility has voted to stop construction on two billion-dollar nuclear reactors. The reactors were set to be among the first new nuclear reactors built in the U.S. in decades, but the vote by Santee Cooper’s board on Monday, July 31, 2017 likely ends their future. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins) FILE - This April 9, 2012 file photo shows construction well underway for two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, S.C. South Carolina's state-owned public utility has voted to stop construction on two billion-dollar nuclear reactors. The reactors were set to be among the first new nuclear reactors built in the U.S. in decades, but the vote by Santee Cooper’s board on Monday, July 31, 2017 likely ends their future. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

By Associated Press 4 min read

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – A utility will brief South Carolina regulators Tuesday on its plans to end construction of two nuclear reactors that customers have already paid billions to build.

The state Public Service Commission will hear from executives with SCANA, the parent company of South Carolina Electric & Gas. Both SCE&G and state-owned Santee Cooper decided Monday to scuttle the project at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station north of Columbia. The hearing could supply answers on how that decision will affect customers.

Private utility SCE&G, which owns 55 percent of the project, must win state approval of its abandonment plans.

The project has been shrouded in doubt since Westinghouse, hired as primary contractor in 2008, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

The utilities have since determined costs to finish the project could top $20 billion. They have already jointly spent roughly $10 billion over a series of delays and cost overruns.