Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station

Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station is a decommissioned nuclear power plant located in Fairfield County, South Carolina. The single-unit facility, named for a former chairman of the South Carolina Electric & Gas company, was a significant source of baseload electricity for the region for over three decades. Its history is marked by the ambitious, and ultimately cancelled, expansion project to construct two additional AP1000 reactors, a venture that became one of the largest nuclear construction failures in U.S. history.

History and construction

Planning for the facility began in the late 1960s by South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) and the state-owned Santee Cooper utility. Construction on the first reactor, a three-loop pressurized water reactor supplied by Westinghouse Electric Company, commenced in 1973. The project faced delays and cost escalations common to the era, influenced by new regulations following the Three Mile Island accident and evolving Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements. The unit was finally completed and entered commercial operation in January 1984. Decades later, in 2008, SCANA (the parent of SCE&G) and Santee Cooper announced plans to expand the site with two new AP1000 reactors, Units 2 and 3, initiating a major new chapter in the plant's history.

Plant design and reactors

The operational Unit 1 was a 966 MWe pressurized water reactor with a design similar to many built by Westinghouse Electric Company in the 1970s and 1980s. Its containment structure was a large, dry design. The cancelled expansion project, known as the V.C. Summer Nuclear Expansion, involved the construction of two AP1000 reactors, a Generation III+ design featuring passive safety systems. These units were intended to be among the first of this new design built in the United States, alongside the similarly troubled project at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia.

Operational history and performance

Unit 1 operated reliably for most of its service life, providing electricity to customers of SCANA and Santee Cooper. It underwent several power uprates and regularly completed refueling and maintenance outages. The unit's operating license was renewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2004, extending its life to 2042. However, the focus of its later history shifted overwhelmingly to the failed expansion project. Construction on Units 2 and 3 began in 2013 but was plagued by massive cost overruns, schedule delays, and the 2017 bankruptcy of the primary contractor, Westinghouse Electric Company.

Economic and regulatory challenges

The financial collapse of the expansion project had profound consequences. Ratepayers of SCE&G had been billed over $2 billion for the project through a series of approved rate increases by the Public Service Commission of South Carolina. Following the bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric Company, the owners abandoned construction in July 2017. This triggered a major political and legal scandal in South Carolina, involving investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The fallout led to the sale of SCANA to Dominion Energy and resulted in numerous lawsuits and a legislative mandate for customer refunds.

Decommissioning and site future

Following the decision to decommission the site, Unit 1 permanently ceased power operations on August 31, 2020. The defueling process was completed, and the reactor is now in SAFSTOR, a long-term storage status under Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversight, with eventual dismantlement deferred for decades. The incomplete structures for Units 2 and 3 were demolished. The site, now majority-owned by Dominion Energy, retains its transmission connections, and portions of the property may be repurposed for other industrial or energy projects in the future, including potential support for Georgia's Vogtle Electric Generating Plant expansion.

Category:Nuclear power stations in South Carolina Category:Buildings and structures in Fairfield County, South Carolina Category:Pressurized water reactors