Dominion agrees to pay $25 million in SEC case

South Carolina’s state-owned utility Santee Cooper and Westinghouse Electric Company have finalized the terms of a settlement for determining ownership of equipment associated with the Summer plant’s abandoned nuclear new-build project. The settlement agreement gives Santee Cooper full ownership of, and the ability to immediately begin marketing, all nonnuclear equipment, the utility announced on August 31.

Stephen A. Byrne, former executive vice president of SCANA Corporation, pleaded guilty in federal court on July 23 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with the failed $9-billion nuclear-expansion project at South Carolina’s Summer plant.

Byrne, 60, had also been president of generation and transmission and chief operating officer at SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas, overseeing all of SCANA’s nuclear operations, including the construction of the new nuclear units, on which work was stopped in 2017 (NN, Aug. 2017, p. 17).

A circuit court judge on July 20 gave final approval to a $520-million settlement in a class action civil suit brought against Santee Cooper over alleged deceptive business practices involving the failed nuclear-expansion project at South Carolina’s Summer plant.

Santee Cooper was the junior partner to SCANA Corporation’s South Carolina Electric and Gas in the two-reactor project, which was canceled in July 2017 (NN, Aug. 2017, p. 17). In July 2019, SCANA became a wholly owned subsidiary of Virginia-based Dominion Energy (NN, Feb. 2019, p. 15).

According to the lawsuit, brought by ratepayers, Santee Cooper raised rates to cover the increasing costs of the Summer expansion even after becoming aware that the project was no longer viable.

Federal Judge Margaret Seymour signed off on a $192.5 million settlement on July 9 in a civil lawsuit filed in 2017 by SCANA shareholders over the company’s failed Summer nuclear construction project.

The ACRS supports subsequent license renewal for the Dominion units. Photo: Dominion Energy

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) has issued a report recommending approval of Dominion Energy’s 20-year subsequent license renewal (SLR) application for Surry-1 and -2. The board reached its conclusion during its April meeting, after reviewing both the SLR application and the associated final safety evaluation report. Dominion submitted the application in October 2018.

Surry Power Station. Photo: Dominion Energy.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its final supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) on April 6 for Dominion Energy’s subsequent license renewal (SLR) application for Surry-1 and -2, concluding that the potential environmental impacts from continued operation of the units are not substantial enough to prevent the agency from considering issuance of the SLRs. The NRC had issued its final safety evaluation report on the Surry SLR application on March 9, with a similarly positive conclusion.

by Mike Little and Dale Vines, Dominion Engineering, Inc.

Now how did that get there?

Finding foreign material in your reactor system is not the beginning of a good day. Where did it come from? Did someone leave this in here or did something break? When did this happen? These are all good questions for which we need to know the answers.

NextEra Energy announced on February 11 that its bid to buy South Carolina’s public utility, Santee Cooper, is the “recommended purchase proposal” following a formal bid invitation called for by the state’s General Assembly in May 2019 (NN, June 2019, p. 9). Competing with NextEra’s purchase offer is a reform plan put forward by Santee Cooper in an attempt to avoid a sale as the utility continues to grapple with the failed Summer-­2 and -­3 nuclear construction project and the $3.6 billion in debt incurred before the project was halted in July 2017.

A report from the South Carolina Department of Administration published on February 11 outlined the competing plans and factors that the General Assembly may want to take into consideration as it mulls the plans. A third option, a proposal by Dominion Energy to take over the management, but not the ownership, of Santee Cooper was also evaluated.

Referencing the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as its own “strong history of environmental stewardship,” Dominion Energy on February 11 announced that it is expanding its greenhouse gas emission–reduction goals by pledging to achieve net-­zero emissions by 2050. The new goal covers emissions of carbon dioxide and methane—the two leading greenhouse gases—from the company’s electricity generation and gas infrastructure operations.

“Our mandate is to provide reliable and affordable energy safely,” said Thomas F. Farrell II, Dominion’s chairman, president, and chief executive officer. “We do that every day, all year long. But we recognize that we must also continue to be a leader in combatting climate change. . . . Dominion Energy already has made important progress on emissions. This new commitment sets an even higher bar that I am confident we can, and will, reach. Net-­zero emissions will be good for all of our stakeholders—for our customers, communities, employees, and investors.”