V.C. Summer refueling and maintenance outage complete

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A scheduled refueling and maintenance outage at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Power Station in Fairfield County which began Oct. 6 has been completed.

Workers replaced approximately one-third of V.C. Summer Unit 1’s fuel during the outage, S.C. Electric & Gas said in a news release. More than 900 contractors joined nearly 700 permanent SCE&G nuclear employees to perform preventative maintenance and inspections that can’t occur while the equipment is operating, according to the release.

The 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant, which provides nearly 20% of SCE&G’s power generation, was returned to the electrical grid on Nov. 25. During its outage, SCE&G’s other generating plants provided electrical power for its 730,000 S.C. customers.

“Because of our employees’ commitment to operational excellence and safety, we have successfully completed another planned outage at the nuclear plant,” George Lippard, vice president of nuclear operations, said in the release. “V.C. Summer will now continue providing clean, safe and reliable energy for our customers.”

Unit 1 began commercial operation in 1984. The construction of Units 2 and 3, twin 1,100-megawatt reactors, was abandoned in July 2017 by SCE&G and co-project owner Santee Cooper after a series of rising costs and mounting delays before beginning operation.