FAIRFIELD COUNTY, S.C. — The last defendant in the failed VC Summer Nuclear Reactor case is scheduled for sentencing tomorrow in federal court. Ahead of his sentencing, here's what led up to multiple executives and CEOs facing jail time.
The project started as a shared effort between VC Summer Nuclear generating stations owner SCANA and Santee Cooper. This was in an effort to build two new nuclear reactors to provide energy to our state’s growing population.
In April of 2007 state legislators passed the Base Load Review Act, which allowed the rates of utilities to be raised charging ratepayers for investments in plants that are in the works. Ratepayers in South Carolina paid approximately $9 billion for the failed project.
A year later, in 2008, SCE&G and Santee Cooper reached a contract agreement with Westinghouse Electric Company, the reactors were set to cost nearly $10 billion.
More than 5,000 workers flooded into Fairfield County to work on the reactors.
In 2011 the project hit a roadblock after SCE&G announced project delays.
Three different units were set to be built as part of the project, with start dates ranging 2017-2018.
In 2014, SCANA announced a year one delay to the project, and on top of that, the company announced they needed an additional $1.2 billion to finish it.
A year later, completion dates are pushed back again, this time to 2019 and 2020.
In 2016, SCANA asked the Public Service Commission to increase rates once again, which they approved. This was one of several rate increases customers faced throughout this project.
In march 2017, Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy, later that year SCANA and Santee Cooper announced the abandoning of the project as a whole.
This decision left customers paying millions of dollars for a project that never produced energy.
Multiple executives and CEOS from all companies involved pleaded guilty to federal charges, leading to jail time and fines.
Jeffrey Alan Benjamin, a former Westinghouse executive, admitted his guilt in a plea agreement and will appear in court Wednesday in Columbia. He admitted to withholding key information from SCE&G, as well as state and federal regulators about huge delays and cost overruns with the project.
Other executives charged in this include the Westinghouse project director, SCANA CEO and SCANA executive vice president.