Wall Street doubts SCE&G, Santee Cooper will complete their $14 billion nuclear project; decision...

[TexasTowelie]

Wall Street doubts SCE&G, Santee Cooper will complete their $14 billion nuclear project; decision likely Monday

If Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas are planning to keep building two new nuclear reactors in rural Fairfield County, they aren't doing much to sell the beleaguered project.

The pair of power companies described the future of their nuclear construction project in unusually bleak terms on Thursday when they announced a multi-billion dollar deal intended to shore up its finances.

Nine years after the nuclear expansion got underway about 30 miles north of Columbia, rising costs and long construction delays have pushed the utilities' lead contractor, Westinghouse Electric, into bankruptcy protection. They've also threatened the financial viability of its parent company, the 142-year-old Japanese technology giant Toshiba.

Now, those doubts appear to be making their way into comments from Cayce-based SCE&G and the state-owned utility Santee Cooper, which decided this week to release Toshiba from the project in return for nearly $2.2 billion.

Read more: http://www.postandcourier.com/business/wall-street-doubts-sce-g-santee-cooper-will-complete-their/article_b8ca44a4-73c8-11e7-a099-4f4186d95ef8.html