South Carolina governor urges retention of nuclear tax credits

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) recently wrote a letter to his state’s Congressional delegation urging them to extend tax credit and loan programs for nuclear energy developments.

In the May 9 letter, McMaster wrote that South Carolina is working to usher in its “nuclear renaissance” to address its and the country’s need for energy. With South Carolina’s growing population and infrastructure, he said the state will need more energy, particularly nuclear power.

The tax credits would help preserve existing assets, like the Virgil C. Summer plant, while also attracting large funding from private capital for nuclear construction, McMaster wrote.

In an effort to grow its nuclear base, McMaster wrote that the state wants to complete the two unfinished Westinghouse AP 1000 reactors at the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Power Station in Jenkinsville, S.C. However, without the nuclear tax credits and loan programs, McMaster wrote the efforts would be “dead”.

The Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Power Station has three units, in which only one unit is currently active. Unit 1, which began commercially operating in 1984, is a pressurized water reactor with the capacity of 973 megawatts and is operated by Dominion Energy.

Units 2 and 3 construction was never finished due to the project being abandoned by Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric and Gas, a subsidiary of SCANA, in 2017 citing high costs. The project cost around $9 billion.

South Carolina power customers are still paying for the canceled project, as reported by South Carolina Daily Gazette. 

Coinciding with the project’s cancellation, a financial scandal ensued that has resulted in various legal battles, arrests and financial disarray. South Carolina Electric and Gas formerly jointly owned the two units with Santee Cooper, until the scandal in which Dominion purchased South Carolina Electric and Gas in 2019.

McMaster acknowledged the “sad history” considering units 2 and 3 of the nuclear station in the letter, but was hopeful with tax credits the funding of the project could be possible.

“Their targets are two big AP 1000 reactors at Virgil C. Summer, once a sad story, now a brilliant opportunity,” McMaster wrote. “We just need to finish them, but that takes money. Fortunately, the money is available; unfortunately, it is about to disappear. That’s why I am writing [to] you.”

On May 8, McMaster signed Senate Bill 51, a joint resolution from the state General Assembly, which supports the state’s efforts to finish the construction of units 2 and 3 of the Virgil C. Summer station.

Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) made a similar plea to extend nuclear tax credits in a May 1 letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.).