Reports of impending Toshiba bankruptcy raise new doubts about S.C. nuclear project
The utilities building new reactors at a Midlands nuclear plant aren't saying what impact a potential Toshiba Corp. bankruptcy filing could have on the troubled construction project, even as more questions are being raised about the Japanese conglomerate's financial health.
"We haven’t been informed about a Toshiba bankruptcy filing, and we won’t speculate about one," Rhonda O'Banion, spokeswoman for South Carolina Electric & Gas parent SCANA Corp., said this week.
Toshiba's business partners told The Wall Street Journal that they are bracing for a bankruptcy filing that could wipe out many of the Tokyo firm's commitments, including a guarantee to pay up to $1.7 billion in cost overruns at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville.
Toshiba pledged to make those payments after its Westinghouse Electric subsidiary, the South Carolina power plant's main contractor, filed for bankruptcy reorganization in March. The guarantee plays a key role in whether V.C. Summer partners SCANA and Santee Cooper finish the $14 billion project, which is already over budget and behind schedule.
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