Utility Offers to Give S.C. Failed and Unfinished Nuclear Site

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The parent company of South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. is offering the site of a failed nuclear reactor project to the state-owned utility Santee Cooper.

The State newspaper reported SCANA proposed giving the Fairfield County site to Santee Cooper so the project could be preserved and perhaps finished later.

SCE&G and Santee Cooper abandoned the effort July 31 after spending more than $9 billion.

The newspaper said choosing not to preserve the site is part of SCANA's strategy to show it has abandoned the effort and deserves a $2 billion tax write-off.

Santee Cooper worries that accepting ownership of the site would stick its customers with the full cost of maintaining the site. Santee Cooper doesn't like a provision to prevent it from suing SCANA over the failed project.