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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station
The Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Power Station occupies a site near Jenkinsville, South Carolina, in Fairfield County, South Carolina, approximately 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Columbia.

The plant has one Westinghouse 3-loop Pressurized Water Reactor, which has received approval of a 20-year license extension, taking the license expiration of Unit 1 from 2022 to 2042. Its cooling water is supplied by the Monticello Reservoir, which is also used by a pumped storage (hydroelectric) unit. The plant utilizes a once-through cooling system.

South Carolina Electric and Gas was also in the process of constructing two Westinghouse AP1000 plants, which had been scheduled to go into service in 2020, but construction on these was abandoned in 2017.

The nuclear power station also includes the decommissioned experimental Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor (CVTR) unit, just outside the site of the old town of Parr, SC. The CVTR was a 17 MWe, heavy water reactor.

The plant is named after Virgil Clifton Summer, the former Chairman and CEO of SCE&G.

In August 2023, Dominion Energy applied for another 20-year license extension for Unit 1 beyond 2042, which as of October 2023 is under consideration by the NRC.

Unit 1

V. C. Summer Unit 1 is a Westinghouse 3-loop Pressurized Water Reactor. The reactor first began commercial operation on January 1, 1984. The plant cost $1.3 billion to construct (equivalent to $4 billion in 2023)– 24 percent less per kilowatt than the average of 13 nuclear plants constructed over the same time period.

Unit 1 generates 2900 MWth (Thermal Megawatts) of heat, supplying a net output of 966 MWe (Electric Megawatts) of electricity to the grid.

In 2001, the Summer unit operated at 79.9 percent capacity, producing 6.76 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. In 2007 it produced 8.48 billion kilowatt-hours, increasing its capacity factor to 100.2 percent.

Two-thirds of the Summer plant is owned by its operator, Dominion Energy. The remaining one-third is owned by the South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper).

Units 2 and 3

See also: The scandal originating from the failed expansion nicknamed "Nukegate"

On March 27, 2008, South Carolina Electric & Gas applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) to build two 1,100 MW AP1000 pressurized water reactors at the site. On May 27, 2008, SCE&G and Santee Cooper announced an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract had been reached with Westinghouse. Costs were estimated to be approximately $9.8 billion for both AP1000 units, plus transmission facility and financing costs. The operators filed an application to increase customers bills by $1.2 billion (2.5%) during the construction period to partially finance capital costs.

In March 2012, the NRC approved the construction license of the two proposed reactors at the Summer plant. As with the license approval for the Vogtle plant, NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko cast the lone dissenting vote, saying "I continue to believe that we should require that all Fukushima-related safety enhancements are implemented before these new reactors begin operating". The reactors were expected to go on-line in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

The construction of Unit 2 began officially on March 9, 2013, with the pouring of concrete for the base mat. The placement of the first concrete was completed on March 11, 2013. Unit 2 was the first reactor to start construction in the US in 30 years. First concrete for Unit 3 was completed on November 4, 2013.

In October 2014, a delay of at least one year and extra costs of $1.2 billion were announced, largely due to fabrication delays. Unit 2 was expected to be substantially complete in late 2018 or early 2019, with unit 3 about a year later.

On July 23, 2015, V. C. Summer Unit 2 reached a milestone with the successful placement of the CA-01 module, one of the largest, heaviest, and most complicated modules within the Nuclear Island, also referred to as a super module because it was so large that huge submodules had to be shipped from the manufacturer and final assembly was completed on site in the twelve-story Module Assembly Building. Installation of CA-01 was long delayed due to both regulatory and production hurdles related to the module. It was the first of the US AP1000 reactors under construction to achieve placement of this critical module, beating Vogtle Unit 3 to this milestone, and allowing other construction activities in the Nuclear Island to progress that could not proceed until the module was in place. CA-01 is a large structural module that forms the internal structures of some compartments within the Containment Vessel, including the Steam Generator compartments, Reactor Vessel cavity, and Refueling Canal. The CA-01 Module is the heaviest module on site, weighing 1,200 tons, or 2.4 million pounds. Because of how much it weighs, lifting and placing the CA-01 module into the Unit 2 Nuclear Island resulted in the heaviest lift for the V. C. Summer construction project to date.

In early 2017 Westinghouse Electric Company revised in-service dates to April 2020 and December 2020 for units 2 and 3. In March 2017, Westinghouse Electric Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of $9 billion of losses from its two U.S. nuclear construction projects. SCANA considered its options for the project, and ultimately decided to abandon the project in July 2017. SCANA had determined that completing just Unit 2 and abandoning Unit 3 could be feasible and was leaning toward that option internally, however the project died when minority partner Santee Cooper's board voted to cease all construction and SCANA could not find another partner to take their place.

On July 31, 2017, after an extensive review into the costs of constructing Units 2 and 3, South Carolina Electric and Gas decided to stop construction of the reactors and later filed a Petition for Approval of Abandonment with the Public Service Commission of South Carolina.

Electricity production

Generation (MWh) of VC Summer Nuclear Generating Station
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual (Total)
2001 0 0 601,607 704,613 718,019 524,248 645,265 719,895 694,465 726,263 701,487 727,486 6,763,348
2002 728,990 658,069 728,693 436,865 0 528,577 722,433 719,185 697,230 726,869 704,182 729,647 7,380,740
2003 730,770 660,041 730,338 705,813 647,256 702,519 724,695 722,976 701,307 222,961 72,673 731,626 7,352,975
2004 733,410 685,859 701,233 441,210 732,321 704,770 724,925 724,970 704,945 733,542 710,207 646,742 8,244,134
2005 733,239 662,025 732,214 500,502 0 639,101 711,434 616,307 701,269 731,560 707,269 734,480 7,469,400
2006 734,552 663,603 735,774 710,454 710,894 688,678 716,731 718,685 698,164 292,341 121,204 730,318 7,521,398
2007 731,289 596,857 729,464 700,747 725,676 694,760 723,191 720,030 698,487 724,959 704,920 728,658 8,479,038
2008 556,991 651,692 727,881 574,748 0 358,159 723,084 721,789 700,482 727,468 706,459 729,348 7,178,101
2009 729,027 658,963 730,125 706,936 727,749 699,952 719,799 718,259 699,906 70,076 0 411,251 6,872,043
2010 730,633 637,250 732,022 707,175 731,273 696,740 719,689 716,595 635,982 731,609 712,584 735,527 8,487,079
2011 675,547 664,020 734,237 324,031 6,294 687,704 724,676 724,553 704,712 732,858 712,357 735,243 7,426,232
2012 734,809 687,953 734,067 709,737 732,749 706,110 726,521 726,072 704,791 268,332 0 550,686 7,281,827
2013 735,256 665,491 520,768 658,199 735,363 707,637 730,801 730,312 705,363 733,207 712,289 735,470 8,370,156
2014 735,139 664,754 735,687 80,366 2,649 690,507 392,643 729,083 705,625 732,821 712,372 734,555 6,916,201
2015 712,364 664,143 734,673 710,036 733,481 705,475 725,785 723,948 702,122 39,336 0 664,034 7,115,397
2016 736,703 690,163 736,830 713,812 736,346 709,129 719,413 724,235 706,187 735,016 712,643 737,884 8,658,361
2017 738,145 665,587 735,889 155,103 0 629,744 702,621 641,129 524,120 735,406 647,265 738,285 6,913,294
2018 738,061 666,522 737,076 714,104 723,180 709,283 729,878 729,339 705,973 104,707 74,007 734,261 7,366,391
2019 737,670 667,263 730,381 714,430 735,896 709,474 730,714 730,227 707,161 735,003 311,045 739,172 8,248,436
2020 739,618 692,043 738,140 221,847 436,990 711,798 719,802 698,503 575,284 736,732 716,316 740,452 7,727,525
2021 739,516 668,022 738,351 715,358 665,428 711,500 731,808 506,243 486,449 166,154 8,748 415,196 6,552,773
2022 738,525 602,447 736,920 714,261 736,109 709,204 730,109 729,927 704,128 736,983 7,138,613
2023

Surrounding population

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Summer was 17,599, an increase of 26.2 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 1,187,554, an increase of 14.3 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Columbia (30 miles to city center).

Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Summer was 1 in 26,316 years, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.

Reactor data

The Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station consists of one operational reactor. Two additional units under construction were cancelled on July 31, 2017.

Reactor unit Reactor type Capacity(MW) Construction started Electricity grid connection Commercial operation Shutdown
Net Gross
Virgil C. Summer-1 Westinghouse 3-Loop 966 1003 1973-03-21 1982-11-16 1984-01-01
Virgil C. Summer-2 Westinghouse AP1000 1117 1250 2013-03-09 Cancelled N/A
Virgil C. Summer-3 2013-11-02 Cancelled

See also

References

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  2. ^ Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 30, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
  3. ^ "V.C. Summer Nuclear Station", SCANA, retrieved 17 March 2011
  4. ^ "Dominion Energy South Carolina, Inc.; Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, Unit No. 1". Federal Register. 2023-10-16. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  5. ^ "V.C. Summer Nuclear Station Fact Sheet" (PDF). Information. SCE&G. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  6. ^ "V.C. Summer Nuclear Station, Unit 1". Information. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  7. ^ "(Virgil C.) Summer Nuclear Station, South Carolina". United States Energy Information Administration. 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  8. ^ "V.C. Summer Nuclear Station License Renewal Application" (PDF). Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
  9. ^ "Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Site, Units 2 and 3 Application". New Reactors. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). February 9, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
  10. ^ "SCE&G & Santee Cooper Announce Contract to Build Two New Nuclear Units". SCANA Press Release. May 27, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  11. ^ "Summer time for AP1000". Nuclear Engineering International. 5 June 2008. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  12. ^ Wingfield, Brian; Julie Johnsson (30 March 2012). "Scana Receives NRC Approval to Build South Carolina Reactors". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  13. ^ "Scana ends dispute over early nuclear costs". Reuters. 29 March 2012. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  14. ^ "Construction officially starts at Summer". World Nuclear News. World Nuclear Association. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
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  16. ^ "Cost of Summer AP1000s increases". World Nuclear News. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  17. ^ "Landmark module installation at VC Summer". World Nuclear News. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
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  19. ^ Fuse, Taro (24 March 2017). "Toshiba decides on Westinghouse bankruptcy, sees $9 billion in charges: sources". Reuters. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  20. ^ "Scana to evaluate Summer options". World Nuclear News. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  21. ^ "Two Half-Finished Nuclear Reactors Scrapped as Costs Balloon". Bloomberg News. 31 July 2017.
  22. ^ http://www.ippjournal.com 5 January 2018: IPPToday #129: Dominion Energy acquires US utility Scana for US$14.6 billion
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  24. ^ "Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness at Nuclear Power Plants". www.nrc.gov. Archived from the original on 2006-10-02.
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  26. ^ "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk". NBC News. 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  27. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2017-05-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  28. ^ Brad Plumer (31 July 2017). "U.S. Nuclear Comeback Stalls as Two Reactors Are Abandoned". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  29. ^ "PRIS - Home". www.iaea.org.
  30. ^ "Virgil C. Summer-1". Power Reactor Information System. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 12 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  31. ^ "Virgil C. Summer-2". Power Reactor Information System. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 12 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  32. ^ "Santee Cooper, SCANA abandon Summer nuclear plant construction".
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