WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON AT V.C. SUMMER?
Something’s not adding up.
Santee Cooper — the state-owned power company — just signed a deal to talk only with BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT about restarting the two old nuclear reactors at V.C. Summer in Fairfield County.
Here’s what makes that strange:
Brookfield owns WESTINGHOUSE, the same company that helped build those reactors years ago — the same project that failed and cost South Carolinians billions of dollars.
Westinghouse went bankrupt, and people from that company and from SCANA went to prison for what happened.
Brookfield bought Westinghouse out of bankruptcy in 2018, so now they control it.
Now, the same people tied to the first disaster may get another chance to make money off it.
And it gets worse. Another nuclear company — one that spent tens of millions of dollars and even set up shop right here in Fairfield County — was working hard to make a fair offer on the project.
They hired about 150 experts, studied every part of the site, and said it would cost about 20 billion dollars to finish the reactors — or 30 billion if things weren’t managed right.
Then they walked away.
They sent Santee Cooper a letter saying they thought the process looked rigged — that it looked like Santee Cooper had already made up its mind to work with Brookfield and Westinghouse.
Think about that. A company spends millions trying to do business the right way… and then quits because it believes the deal was already rigged for the same folks who helped cause the problem in the first place.
There’s another part of this story, too.
Back in 2020, Santee Cooper made a deal with Westinghouse about selling the leftover parts from the failed project. Under that deal:
• Big pieces that were never installed: 50/50 split between Santee Cooper and
Westinghouse.
• Parts already installed: 90/10 split.
• Other nuclear-use pieces: 67/33 split.
• Non-nuclear equipment: 100% Santee Cooper.
So even today, Westinghouse (now owned by Brookfield) still makes money off the leftovers from the project that failed — and now they’re first in line for the chance to
restart it.
Does that sound right to you?
The same names.
The same companies.
The same project.
And somehow, they’re getting another bite at the apple — with your state-owned utility holding the door open.
Every taxpayer, every ratepayer, every voter in South Carolina should be asking one simple question:
Who’s really looking out for us this time?
