Steve Byrne of SCE&G on Controlling New Nuclear Construction Costs

Earlier this month, the Associated Press ran a story on its national wire concerning what it described as rising construction costs at America's new nuclear plants:

America's first new nuclear plants in more than a decade are costing billions more to build and sometimes taking longer to deliver than planned, problems that could chill the industry's hopes for a jumpstart to the nation's new nuclear age.

A couple of days later, I had a chance to spend a few minutes with Steve Byrne, SCE&G's President, Generation and COO, to ask him some questions about the topic. SCE&G's parent company, SCANA Corporation, is building a pair of new reactors at the VC Summer site in South Carolina (click here for the latest progress report from SCANA). I started off by asking Steve why claims that costs were spiraling out of control at VC Summer and Plant Vogtle in Georgia were incorrect:




I also had the chance to ask Steve about how "construction work in progress" provisions help utilities better manage construction costs and how the industry has taken lessons learned from the past and applied them to controlling costs. If you'd like to watch all three videos in sequence, click here.