The second annual South Carolina Nuclear Summit held last week featured utility executives and legislators from the state, as well as leaders from Brookfield Asset Management, which is being considered to restart construction on the two abandoned reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in Fairfield County. The summit, at the University of South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena, attracted more than 350 attendees. The event was hosted by the university’s Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing.

A recent webinar hosted by the American Nuclear Society featured leading experts in South Carolina’s nuclear sector, who discussed how the state will leverage its resources, history, and experience to become a frontrunner in new development. Hosted by ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy, it offered perspectives from the utility, commercial, and academic worlds.

Go deeper: To hear more from each panelist on the nuclear present and future of South Carolina, watch the full webinar here.

The Nuclear Company, which in April opened its primary engineering and construction office in Columbia, S.C., announced a partnership with the University of South Carolina’s Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, whereby the company will invest up to $5 million in the college over five years. USC is to match the private investment with funds from federal grants, industry partners, and other donors.

Santee Cooper is satisfied with the response generated by its initial request for proposals to buy what remains of the Summer-2 and -3 nuclear power plant project in South Carolina. The RFP was issued in January and the application window closed May 5.

All three units at the Duke Energy’s Oconee nuclear power plant in South Carolina are now licensed to operate for an additional 20 years.

Faculty and staff from Winthrop University recently toured the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site as part of a workforce development partnership.

A seminal new report by the Southeast Nuclear Advisory Council and E4 Carolinas has identified the significant economic impact of the nuclear industry within the southeastern United States. The report, The Economic Impact of the Nuclear Industry in the Southeast United States, provides a baseline for future research into the crucial role nuclear power plants play in shaping regional economies and facilitating the shift to clean energy.

Hundreds of employees at the Westinghouse nuclear fuel fabrication facility in South Carolina are trying to form a union and join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The DOE is working to remove plutonium stored at its Savannah River Site.

The Department of Energy has reached a settlement with the state of South Carolina to remove 9.5 metric tons (t) of plutonium from the state, the agency announced on August 31. Under the settlement, which resolves litigation over the storage of surplus plutonium at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., the state will receive an upfront lump sum of $600 million in economic and impact assistance payments. In return, the DOE will be allowed more time (through 2037) to remove the plutonium from the state without the threat of lawsuits.

The settlement stems from the DOE's termination of the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility in 2018. The MOX facility was intended to meet a nonproliferation agreement between the United States and Russia to dispose of 34 t of weapons-grade plutonium by converting it to nuclear fuel for commercial power reactors. Reported to be 70-percent completed when construction was halted, the MOX facility was approximately $13 billion over budget and 32 years behind schedule, according to the DOE.