Carper Statement on Halted Nuclear Reactor Construction in South Carolina

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the below statement after Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas announced that they will halt construction on two nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer power plant in Columbia, South Carolina and seek to pull out of the 9-year, multi-billion dollar project.

“I’m disappointed by today’s decision to halt construction on South Carolina’s two nuclear reactors. Nuclear energy provides about twenty percent of our nation’s energy, but the reactors in operation today won’t be around forever. Building nuclear reactors like these in South Carolina with new technology developed in this country that are safer, produce less spent fuel and are cheaper to build and operate is the smart, forward-looking approach that offers real clean air and climate benefits. I believe that, even in adversity, lies opportunity, and I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress and across the country who see the incredible opportunity that nuclear energy presents. Nuclear energy has an important role to play in our country’s clean energy future, and it’s on all of us to help make that future viable.”

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