SCE and G misled lawmakers about critical nuclear report

SCE&G executives misled S.C. legislators about why a report was commissioned to investigate troubles at the failing V.C. Summer nuclear expansion project, state regulators say.

In sworn testimony to lawmakers last fall, Kevin Marsh, then chief executive of SCE&G and its parent company SCANA, told legislators the Bechtel Corp. was hired to complete a study on problems at the ill-fated project to help prepare for a possible lawsuit against Westinghouse, the project’s lead contractor.

Because the report — kept secret until after the V.C. Summer project collapsed — was part of an anticipated lawsuit, it could remain confidential from regulators, legislators and the public, utility officials told legislators last fall.

However, in filings late Wednesday with the S.C. Public Service Commission, regulators at the state Office of Regulatory Staff said the Bechtel report was put together to assess what was going wrong with the construction of two new nuclear reactors northwest of Columbia, not to support a lawsuit………..

Documents released Wednesday by Regulatory Staff indicate the Bechtel report was kept confidential at the insistence of Westinghouse. Westinghouse wanted protection from legal liability at another nuclear construction project that it was in charge of, the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion effort in Georgia, records show.

………Last fall, McMaster obtained the final Bechtel report from state-owned Santee Cooper and released it to the public.

The final Bechtel report noted flawed construction plans, faulty designs, inadequate management of contractors, low worker morale and high turnover at the failing nuclear project site. An earlier draft of the Bechtel report provided even more detail, records show………. https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2018/05/24/sce-g-misled-lawmakers-critical-nuclear-report-state-agency-says/640263002/