Senator briefs Senate on Brookfield takeover of V.C. Summer 2 & 3 and federal incentives

Senator from Buford (speaker 13) told the Senate the Brookfield consortium, as the successful bidder, has committed to complete V.C. Summer units 2 and 3 at its own risk and capital. ‘‘Brookfield has committed to completing V.C. Summer 2 and 3 with their own money, at their own risk,’’ he said, and added that Brookfield will make an approximately $2,700,000,000 cash payment to Santee Cooper intended to reduce the utility’s existing debt and translate into rate relief for customers.

Buford said intensive third‑party inspections and a separate stress test conducted after the bid award identified no ‘‘fatal flaws’’ that would prevent completion. He emphasized there would be no state backstop or ratepayer guarantees in the transaction: ‘‘One of the things that we insisted upon … is that there be no state backstopping, no ratepayer backstopping of anything associated with V.C. Summer 2 and 3.’’

He also described federal engagement: discussions with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy’s loan program office are underway to pursue loan guarantees, incentives and grants. Buford said Commerce has applied for designation of a ‘‘nuclear life‑cycle campus’’ in South Carolina that could host advanced reprocessing technologies and help address the state’s current obligation under the Atlantic Compact to accept nuclear waste stored at the Savannah River Site (he cited roughly 32,000,000 gallons of waste currently stored there).

During floor questioning senators sought clarification about funding sources and the inspection timeline. Buford reiterated that the incentives being sought are federal (loan guarantees, grants) and confirmed the due diligence and third‑party evaluation have been completed with ‘‘clean’’ results.

What’s next: Buford said the next procedural step is moving from the bid award to a memorandum of understanding that will identify consortium partners and project managers; committee and federal engagements will continue as financing is finalized.